The Legend of Zelda: Forge of the Ancestors
by allen.bair
Summary: A great blight has arisen in Hyrule, and Link must journey back to Atlantis to reforge the Master Sword to enter the Sacred Realm and heal the land before it dies. This is a sequel to my previous story, The Legend of Zelda: Pathways of the Ancestors, and forms part two of my Ancestral Ring series.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Drat!" The old woman spat. "Drat! Drat! And more drat!" The sun hadn't yet revealed itself in the crisp cool morning. The sky was just beginning to fill with purple gold.

Behind her, a young, strapping, dark haired soldier in a sharp gray uniform emblazoned with the Hylian crest ran to her side. "Your grace, are you all right?!" He shouted with alarm.

"No, I am not all right. Someone has stolen all of my mushrooms!" She said with irate disgust.

The soldier looked incredulous as he stopped in his tracks. "Your mushrooms, your grace?"

"Yes, my mushrooms! I needed more mushrooms for healing potion. There was a whole batch of them right here under this tree just yesterday, and now they're all gone. Someone's gone and stolen my whole patch of mushrooms!" The old woman said indignantly. "How could you and your men let someone slip into the Sacred Grove and steal them?"

"Your grace, I assure you, no one has entered this grove since yesterday." Trying to contain his amusement, the thirtyish dark haired, mustachioed soldier bent down to inspect the ground in an attempt to humor the ancient lady. All he could see was the dark mossy soil at the base of the tree. He put his white gloved fingers down to feel the soil and felt something slimy cover the fingertips. Pulling his fingers back to look at them, the substance was black and sticky, like fruit or vegetables that had rotted and sat for weeks. "Your grace, I don't think anyone has stolen them. I think they've rotted away. Look." He said to her, standing up and showing her his fingertips.

Impa looked at the black smears on his gloved fingers. "Oh." She said. She then looked more closely at the soil where the mushrooms had been, and the tree, and the plants around her. Signs of the oily blackness were like fine, inky lines running through the very veins of the leaves and branches. "Oh, no." She said slowly and in a low, horrified voice. "How did I miss this?"

"Your grace, what's wrong? Is there anything I can do to help?" The soldier asked earnestly.

He was a good man, she thought. Link said the Sacred Grove's new guards to take the place of the fallen Skull Kid were Hyrule's finest. He meant well, she knew. "No, Oliver. There's nothing you or even I can do about this now." She felt every moment of her considerable age in that one moment.

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

"Damn! Why didn't I see it before now?" She wondered out loud in exasperation, ignoring the younger man's question. "I need to take the train to Hyrule Castle right now. I need to see the princess immediately." Impa told him. Hyrule's steam train system was still relatively new, but the trains connected all of Hyrule's far flung provinces. It was yet another one of the products of that McKay fellow's research. "No, wait. The train's too slow. I'm sorry, Oliver, but I have to use Farore's wind so you can't join me."

"Your grace, she will be busy with the preparations for the coronation." He responded. "The whole world is coming to see her crowned queen of Hyrule."

"No, Oliver. If we don't find a way to stop this... blight, then there won't be a Hyrule for her to be queen of." Impa responded in a tired voice. She brought a green shimmering jewel out from within her cloak, called out the name of the goddess, and threw the jewel at her feet. In a flash of green light, she was gone, leaving the bewildered guard captain to contemplate the old woman's words.

Captain Oliver then called another guard officer over to him. He pulled out a sheet of paper from a pocket in his uniform and began writing on it furiously with an ink pen he produced from another pocket. When he was satisfied with his message, he rolled it up and handed it to his underling telling him, "He will probably know about this before the hawk gets to him, but nevertheless, send this message to Supreme Commander Link by hawk immediately."

"Right away, sir." The underling said, taking the rolled up sheet of paper and departing.

It was the early hours of the morning when Link's eyes opened to the soft golden rays of light which had found their way through the glass of their bed chamber windows. The room was still mostly dark, but warm from the nearly dead embers of the fireplace across from the bed.

He turned his head on his pillow casually and slowly to the right so as not to disturb the beautiful, flame-haired, one time farm girl who still slept soundly, snuggled comfortably against him in her nightgown. Her breaths came delicately through her partly opened, finely sculpted lips. He did nothing to disturb the sight of her peaceful sleep. He dared do nothing. The goddesses knew she earned every moment of peaceful sleep she could get. Their twin sons saw to that.

There was a time when she would have been awake before the sun was, but that was several years ago in another life, it seemed. Her feminine but strong hands had been calloused in those days from many early mornings milking her father's cows and breaking the finest horses anywhere within the borders of Hyrule. Now most of those callouses had disappeared as a result of Malon's new life as the wife of the Supreme Commander of Hyrule's Armed Forces. There were still times though when he caught her scrubbing her own floors here in the castle. He wouldn't have had her any other way. She would always be the most beautiful woman in Hyrule to him, especially with dirt on her hands and sweat in her hair.

Link had first met Malon when he went to see her father Talon about a breeding contract for horses for Hyrule's cavalry. Malon's father was the owner of Lon Lon ranch in Hyrule field not far from Castle Town. Her mother had died in childbirth the same year her majesty, Zelda's mother, also died in childbirth. It was a strange, dark coincidence that when the two learned of it created a bond between them as friends that Link never understood but was glad of.

Malon had been in the corral breaking a horse, and he fell in love with her the moment he saw her. They were married by his majesty, King Gaepora, who insisted on performing the ceremony himself in the castle's great hall under the great images of the Triforce and the goddesses Din, Nayru, and Link's adopted mother, Farore. In fact, his majesty was so involved with the wedding, one would have thought it had been one of his own children who was getting married, though Link never considered himself to have that kind of a relationship with his late majesty.

It was still a rare day though for him to be awake this early, but then again he hadn't slept much in the past few nights. Too much to plan, and too much to think about. Nothing in his memory, at any time of his extended memories, had prepared him for this. Those memories were of a Hyrule in desperate times. Those memories were always of a Hyrule on the verge of total destruction. But this Hyrule, his Hyrule, was a land that had been at peace for many years now. And now, so unlike all those lifetimes before, the crown was passing peacefully from father to daughter and there was no precedent for Link to draw upon.

His majesty had passed away nearly a month ago, peacefully from a long illness and in his sleep. Her highness Zelda had declared a month of mourning for the much loved king, but Zelda could not remain merely a princess forever. Hyrule needed her king... or queen. The coronation ceremony was, thankfully, not today. But it would be before noon tomorrow. All the heads of the different races and nations of this world in alliance with Hyrule castle would be in attendance, if not to do homage, then to express their support and friendship with the newly crowned queen. It was a nightmare that Link had been dreading for twenty nine days.

Link wasn't a diplomat. He was absolutely lousy at protocol, and often felt like a total fool and buffoon at state dinners, banquets, and social occasions around the elites, the nobles, and visiting royalty. No, he was a swordsman, a warrior with the instincts and memories of a hundred other "Links" in a chain which went back to the very foundations of their kingdom. He would gladly charge into hundreds of drooling, snarling bloodthirsty monsters (and had before on several occasions), rather than sit for an hour exchanging meaningless pleasantries with well dressed fools. Malon was much better at playing the part than he was, and she was often the only one who could talk him into attending short of Zelda ordering him to make an appearance. If it wasn't Zelda's coronation, he would have gladly found somewhere, anywhere else to be.

In the room next to theirs, he could hear the gentle snoring noises of his two boys, Talon and John. The two five year old boys were both orange haired spitting images of himself, much to the consternation of their mother and the palace servants. Sometimes, it seemed the only one besides himself who wasn't off-put by their daredevil stunts and mischievous natures was the princess Zelda. Whenever she looked at the boys, no matter what they did, it was always with quiet approval. Malon, red with embarrassment on more than one occasion, had apologized to her highness repeatedly when the boys had barreled past the princess in the halls of the castle forcing her to move out of the way to keep from being knocked over. Again and again, he only response had been, "I am only thankful that the Hero's courage runs strong in them. I am glad Hyrule will have Link's bloodlines to continue to protect her."

Link quietly slipped out of bed, his bare feet making no sound as they hit the plush carpet. In his nightgown, he went to the window and opened it allowing the fresh, cool spring air to flow into the bed chamber.

From the window, he could see the electric lamps still lit in the courtyard of the castle far below him. Guards in sharp, gray Hylian uniforms patrolled, muskets in arm, swords that were far more than ceremonial hung at their waists. Years ago, these guards might not have even known how to use their blades against an enemy (much less the muskets). Link had put a stop to that. He had trained these castle guards himself. Now, they had to be able to hold their own against him with a blade in order to serve in the castle guard. He demanded no less in the protection of the royal family. And, as his own family now resided within these walls, he demanded no less in their protection either. The muskets though... that was a different man who had trained all of them, including him, with that weapon. That was the good man, the good friend, for whom his second son (by minutes) was named.

All was as it should be in the courtyard below. In the east, the sun rose slowly, just coming up over Death Mountain. The sky was filled with flaming golden light. One by one, the electric lamps winked out as the sun crept higher. They and the muskets had been the innovations of another man. Link chuckled at the thought of what Rodney would say if he saw how Hyrule was putting the fruits of his labors to use. And not just this kingdom benefited. The princess saw to it that all those peoples with whom they had treaties, even Gondor in Middle Earth, had access to the technologies Hyrule did.

Link turned from the window to face the opposing wall. Hanging from a set of gilded hooks was what remained of an old and dear friend that he had known through a hundred lifetimes since the very beginning. Her blade was gone, shattered in the explosion which had finally broken the cycle and ended Demise's curse upon their world. No one, not even Impa, knew what to do with just the sapphire hilt, so he took it and kept it safe in his own chambers so it would always be close to him. Fi, the "spirit" of the sword was gone, but he refused to allow her to be forgotten.

The Master Sword had been the Hero's blade since it was reborn by dragon fire fully forged from the goddess sword thousands of years ago. It was the only sword capable of fighting and defeating Demise and his incarnations for those thousands of years. It had been known in myth and legend as the blade of evil's bane. But now the cycle was broken, and the Hero would finally be allowed to rest with his sword. Link could, and did, have a family. He could grow old and wrinkled. Sooner or later, he would be join Fi and be laid to rest. He had given instructions that when his time came, she would be buried with him. It was only fitting that, just as the sword and the Hero had started their journey together, so they would end it together.

A flash of memory, and once again he found himself facing the twisted gray face of his enemy. The Master Sword held tight in his hand as he rammed it into the hell spawned demon. A bright flash of light filled his vision, and then pain, and then darkness. He buried his face in his hands to clear the memory from his mind's eye.

He came out of it and crossed to his closet to dress in his every day palace uniform. He had insisted to Zelda that it not be some ridiculous lacy costume like he had seen many of the courtiers wear. Instead, it was a rather simple gray and blue coat and trousers emblazoned with the Hyrule royal crest on the shoulders, and the gold bars which indicated his rank on the collar. It was tight fitting, but not so tight that he couldn't move to fight if the need arose, even if it was to only spar with his men. Off to one side in the closet hung a green tunic, steel chain mail, and green cap. He hadn't worn it for years now, but her highness insisted he keep it ready and at hand.

The Hero, he, was supposed to be able to rest now. The cycle had been broken and the land was at peace, but Zelda was insistent on keeping him by her side, and keeping the symbols of the Hero within arms reach at all times, whether he wanted them or not. So there in the closet the forest green tunic hung. But, like Fi's hilt, it seemed to be just waiting to be laid to rest with him. Perish the thought that the Hero should be buried in anything else but his "fighting greens."

But both would have to wait for him. The Hero may be laid to rest, but Link still had his family, and a sworn duty to Zelda. With Malon, Talon and John, at the age of twenty five he had a lot of living still to do.

He dressed slowly so as to let Malon sleep as long as she wanted to.

Fully dressed, Link left his bed chambers and followed the hall past his boys' bedroom towards the turret railing which opened out to a small terrace which gave a stunning view of Hyrule field. It was a view he tended to love. Except he found that he was not to be alone there this morning. His boots were not quiet on the polished wood floor, and the blond haired young woman in her royal day clothes turned to greet him. "Oh Link, good you're up. I was hoping to catch you this morning." Zelda said, with a knowing gleam in her eye.

In other words, she's been waiting here for me, he thought to himself. "How may I serve you, your highness?" Link asked.

"Must you be so formal when it is just the two of us? With the considerable history we both share together?" Zelda chided him.

"I'm sorry, Zelda. What's on your mind?" Link corrected himself.

"We're to have a briefing this morning about the coronation ceremony tomorrow. I want you to be there to share any insights you may have." Zelda told him.

"I don't think I would have any..." Link started to say, trying to get out of it as painlessly as possible.

"Nonsense. There will be heads of state from all over this world, as well as guests from Middle Earth and Termina. As Supreme Commander of Hyrule's Armed Forces, ensuring their safety is your top priority." She said in a stern voice. "You will be there."

"As you wish, your highness." Link conceded in defeat. It didn't matter that he had already laid out the plans for the coronation's security. It would be held in the Great Hall with a hundred of his best, hand-picked men watching the guests with eagle eyes. Hundreds more would be patrolling the rest of the castle and the castle's perimeter. He would take no chances with Zelda's, or his family's safety. Zelda is like family to me as well, he thought to himself. Throughout his past lives, she had always been his princess and the incarnation of the goddess Hylia, but she had also been by turns a good friend, a companion, a wife, and a sister in the thousands of years they had come and gone in the legend's cycle. Zelda and he were bound together just as much as Malon and his two sons, maybe even more.

Zelda nodded and silently turned towards the open landscape in front of her. Link stood there for several minutes waiting for her to dismiss him. He knew that she probably wouldn't mind if he just quietly went his own way, but there was something about her demeanor that said he should stay by her.

"Do you ever wonder what purpose we serve now?" Zelda asked him, breaking her silence, her eyes staring off into the distance.

"Your highness?" Link asked in confusion. Although, he felt he knew what she meant.

Zelda continued, "The Demon King has been destroyed and will not return. The cycle is broken. The Triforce is safe. Hyrule can grow and thrive like it was always meant to. What need is there for the wise princess and the courageous hero in this new age?"

"I suppose we just try to get on with our own lives." Link responded thoughtfully after a pause. "Hyrule is free, and we are free with it to live however we want. I intend to live as happily ever after as I can with my family in a way none of the Hero's previous incarnations could."

"Is it really that easy? Would fate really be so kind to us?" She turned to face him and Link saw there were tears running down her cheeks. "Hylia chose to be reborn as a mortal girl to protect Hyrule when it needed her most. Now, there is no more need for her... no more need for me to remain bound here to this mortal world."

"We are in a new age, with unknown obstacles," he said, "sometimes it's easier to face the battles you know than the peace you don't." He then added, "Hyrule needs its queen."

"And I thought my gift was wisdom," she chuckled through her tears, looking at the black triangle birthmark on the back of her left hand. "I wish I had your courage, Link." Zelda told him.

Distant memories of past Zeldas raced through his mind. He had never thought of the princess in any other way but as courageous, and he told her so.

"That's too kind," she said, wiping her tears with her sleeve.. "We have been on this journey together for a very long time, and in many different ways, you and I. Haven't we?"

"Yes we have, your highness." Link responded. Maybe that was why he was hesitant to break protocol with her now. He was married to Malon, and he loved his wife dearly. But he and Zelda had shared a relationship which spanned thousands of years, and went more intimate than Malon could or did know. He would not do anything which could conceivably come back to hurt his wife, and Zelda knew it.

"Let us promise each other then, that no matter what happens, we will see this through to the end as we began it. Together." She said.

"I will always be there to protect you, and Hyrule, my princess." Link said.

Zelda's face darkened as she said, "Don't promise what you can't be certain of, Link." There was some knowledge Link saw flash in her eyes that he didn't understand. "But do promise that you will never give up on me, or this land."

"I swear it on my life, your highness." Link said, meaning every word.

Zelda smiled, then quickly stood up on her tip toes and gave Link a small, affectionate kiss on the cheek, saying, "I'm glad you and Malon found each other, my friend. I will see you at the briefing at the second hour." She then walked quietly off, her slippered feet making no noise as she moved, leaving Link to his own thoughts.

The sun had risen to the second hour after dawn, and Link had stopped by the castle kitchens for a quick bite to eat before making his way to the early morning "briefing." He wished it was actually a military briefing, finishing off his pumpkin spice muffin as he stood outside the closed wooden door, taking a deep breath to steel himself before entering. It unfortunately wasn't to be a military briefing at all. It was in fact a scheduled planning session for the coronation, and had Zelda herself not herself personally requested that he be there, he would have gladly slept in, or been out at the training grounds overseeing new recruits, or volunteering to watch his twin boys, or jumping into the caldera of Death Mountain just to go for a swim. There were times he sincerely missed having some incarnation of the Demon King running amok in Hyrule. This was shaping up to be one of them.

The second most powerful leader in all of Hyrule summoned all of his considerable courage, and opened the door expecting to be assaulted by stylists, decorators, and a riot of last minute inconsequential details that had nothing to do with him. Instead he found his monarch sitting at the head of a long marble conference table with an ancient and familiar face seated next to her. There was no one else in the stately chamber.

"Link, good, come in." Impa welcomed him, motioning with her hand for him to sit in the carved wooden chair next to her.

"Your grace?" Link questioned, surprised.

"Yes, boy, it's me, or is your mind addled with all these preparations for the ceremony?" She then patted the chair with her hand. "Come. Sit. We need to talk."

Link obediently sat down in the chair next to her, and faced her and his monarch. He had no idea what this unexpected, and unexplained visit could be about, except for the coronation. But everything about Zelda's worried expression told him there were far more serious matters than a mere crown. It would take more than a coronation to get the Sage of Time to leave her sacred grove.

Zelda's fingers were pressed hard against the marble table as she searched for the words to begin. Link had rarely ever seen her so concerned, and the goddesses knew she had been given much over her considerable existence to be concerned about.

"We have a serious problem, Link." Zelda began.

"Hmmph, that's an understatement." Impa quipped sarcastically.

Link immediately began to tense. "What kind of problem?" He asked.

"The Sacred Realm is dying." Impa answered for her. "And if the Sacred Realm dies, so does Hyrule as well as all the Realms linked to her. The Twili, Termina, the Dark Realm, everything and everyone in them will die."

Link was stunned as the implications of what she said struck him. "How? Why? What happened?"

"There's a blight that's spreading, boy. I first saw it with my magic mushrooms in the grove this morning. They're all dead; rotted away. The magic has rotted and died within them." Impa said.

"Your mushrooms rotted?" Link said, not understanding how her personal garden wilting had anything to do with the fate of the world.

"No, the magic's rotted. Magic flows throughout Hyrule and connects it to all the other Realms. It binds and holds the Realms together and flows through all living things within them. The magic flows from the Sacred Realm, and there's a corruption spreading from the inside of the Sacred Realm. It's bleeding out into every living thing in our world. It's starting small, but soon it will spread to everything. We need to restore the balance within the Sacred Realm. We need to return the Triforce to the Sacred Realm in order to heal it, and save our world." Impa explained.

"How did this happen?" Link asked.

"Long ago, as you may remember, the Demon King was imprisoned in the Sacred Realm where you, Hero, went to defeat him and prevent his return." The sage began, "Not as long ago, but long enough, the two of you imprisoned him again when you sealed Ganon there. His evil began to seep into the Sacred Realm like a poison." She took a deep breath and then let it out. She seemed tired, and every bit as ancient as she most likely was. "It has saturated the Sacred Realm now to the point where it is seeping into Hyrule."

Link took this information in. It was their fault; Link's, Zelda's, the Sages', all of them. They caused this. "The Triforce needs to be returned? Then that's what we'll do." Link said decisively. The solution didn't appear that difficult to him. "You have the Triforce of power locked in the Temple of Time, and Zelda and I still retain the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage. We can leave for the Temple as soon as possible." He said, looking at them both hopefully.

Zelda looked him straight in the eyes and slowly, sadly, solemnly shook her head.

"No? Why not?" Link asked.

"In order to re-enter the Sacred Realm, boy, we must have the key." Impa said sadly.

"So where is the key?" Link asked. "Who has it?"

"You do, Link." Zelda responded. "Or at least what's left of it, hanging on your bedroom wall."

Link looked with confusion until comprehension broke over him. "Oh no." He said.

"Now do you understand, boy? The key has been destroyed. And by sunset tomorrow night, so will Hyrule be." Impa said with a voice like the grave.

Link stood up and began pacing up and down the length of the chamber. "No, no, no, no..." He kept saying. "No, there has to be something we can do!" He said angrily and loudly. He, Zelda, and Hyrule finally had a future, and now from beyond oblivion the damned Demon King was going to have his final revenge? No! Not if he could do anything about it. He didn't come back time and time again for thousands of years to allow Demise to win in the end.

"And what would that be, boy?" Impa replied. "There has only ever been one Master Sword, and the Realms of this world were always intertwined with it. The blade was shattered, and the blade must be inserted into the pedestal to open the Sacred Realm. There is no other way."

"The blade must be inserted?" Link repeated, his mind racing.

"What are you thinking, Link?" Zelda asked, a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"Can the blade be reforged? If it was reforged would it work?" Link asked hopefully.

"That was no ordinary blade boy!" Impa raised her voice. "It was forged by the ancient goddess Hylia herself thousands of years ago!" Impa looked at Zelda. "No one in this world now knows how it was made, much less how to do it again. Even the goddess herself doesn't remember!" Impa motioned to Zelda with her hand.

"I wasn't thinking of anyone in this world." Link responded with hope in his voice.

Zelda and Impa both just looked at him incredulously until the meaning of his words broke over them. "Is it possible?" Zelda asked Impa.

Impa thought for few minutes. "Maybe. With the Triforce of Power, maybe. But we have very little time to get you to the Temple, boy. We can't wait. You'll need to get dressed."

"Get dressed?" Link asked. "I thought we didn't have the time?"

"We can't take the chance of them not recognizing you in that silly guard's uniform. You need to be in your greens when you step through the portal." Impa said, standing up.

"It's been nine years. A lot might have changed for them." Link said. It certainly had for him, Zelda, and the rest of Hyrule.

"It will have been fifteen for them by now." Impa corrected him. "Don't ask me to explain. But you're right. I will have to make certain adjustments to the portal. Now go, and tell your lovely young wife you'll be back before the coronation tomorrow morning, and give those sweet boys of yours a hug from me."

Link looked at her in surprise.

"What are you standing there for, go get dressed!" Impa ordered him sternly. "We have a train to catch!"

The morning train flew fast and furious across Hyrule field towards the Faron woods and the system of lifts and bridges which had been built to make entry into the Sacred Grove less challenging than it had been for the guards on watch who were rotated in and out. The train system had only been built within the last few years. Hyrule as a whole was a geographically small kingdom, and the magic-fired steam powered trains were capable of getting anyone anywhere within it or its surrounding provinces within an hour.

Link watched the countryside speed past him faster than even Epona could have run. He hated leaving his faithful companion in the stable, but time was now of the essence. Seated in the passenger coach with him was Impa. There was no one else. This engine and single passenger car had been commandeered by the Supreme Commander for himself and Impa alone, much to the consternation of the other waiting passengers, many of whom he knew personally. It couldn't be helped, and he didn't have the time to give them an adequate explanation. He gave the order for it to leave the moment he and Impa were on board.

Link flexed his fingers as he looked at the leather gauntlets which covered his hands and forearms. He hadn't worn them in a long, long time, and had grown unaccustomed to them. The gauntlet completely covered up his triangular birthmark on the back of his left hand, the one which had defined who he was and what role he played as fate demanded of him. The chain mail felt heavier on him than he remembered as well. Was he getting soft? He wondered. His mind returned to less than an hour before as he pulled it on.

"Where are you going?" Malon had asked him just as he was pulling his green tunic over the mail. He was still facing the closet, and she was standing behind him. Her voice constricted with worry.

"The Sacred Grove," Link replied, not turning around. How was he going to explain this to her? How could he? "Her grace, Impa, requested that I join her there." It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't everything.

"She wanted you there ready for a fight?" Malon asked, her voice beginning to raise. Link knew his wife to be many things. A fool was not one of them. Link hadn't worn his mail and Hero's clothes for years, and she knew it. She also knew what it meant when she suddenly found him dressed in them. "What has happened?" She asked. He could hear her trying to regain control of her voice.

Link was silent for a short time, unsure of how much to say. He then said simply and solemnly, "Hyrule needs me." And let the implications of that single sentence hang in the air.

"I see." She replied calmly. With his back to her, he couldn't see what reaction was spreading across her face. He could only imagine it, and what he imagined pained his heart. He didn't have the courage to face that, Triforce or no.

He then felt her arms around his waist, and her body warmly pressed against his back in a passionate and protective embrace. "Come back to me, Hero." Malon said with quiet loving. "When it is all over, make sure you come back to me." She whispered gently into his ear.

"I will." He replied to her, turning to face her. There were the tears he had hoped to not cause, they ran like tiny streams down her resolute face as she tried to be strong. He put his own leather armored arms around her waist and pressed his lips to hers lovingly and passionately. "Always." he said as he pulled away. "I will always come back to you."

She smiled sadly, looked into his eyes and said, "Don't make promises we both know you don't have control over, Hero." Her words echoed Zelda's words from earlier that morning. In some ways, the two women were so alike they could be sisters. Malon then buried her head in his green tunic, staining it with her tears, and he embraced her tightly to himself, kissing the top of her head, and stroking her hair with his hand.

After a short time she pushed away from his embrace and, wiping her eyes with her hands, she walked over to the opposing wall where hung the sapphire hilt. Malon nodded her head reverently before the sacred relic and whispered a quiet prayer to the goddess that forged it that she might protect her husband. She then just as reverently lifted it from its gilded hooks and brought it over to present it to her husband.

"You're going to need this then." She said to him. "Go. Bring her back whole."

The woman misses nothing, Link thought as the memory ran through his mind. He still had no idea how she knew, neither did he ask. After six years of marriage, he had learned it was better not to.

Link continued to stare out the window at the landscape. In the seat across from him, Impa held her eyes closed and remained silent throughout the trip, leaving him to his own thoughts as he dared not disturb hers.

It took an hour to reach the Sacred Grove and the Temple of Time once they reached the Faron Province station. Link's men saluted when they saw him, but then he heard their quiet whispers as he passed by. His dress had caused something of a stir, not disrespect, but alarm. The whispers when he caught them went something like, "Something bad must be coming for him to be wearing that." It didn't inspire him with confidence.

Once again, he and Impa faced the doors which seemed so out of place among the ruins of the once great temple. But he knew that the doors were anything but ordinary as Impa sang them open and they passed through into the temple in another time outside of time.

Once inside, Impa left him waiting in the gilded marble main hall while she went and made the preparations. He knew that, inside the temple, time meant nothing, but it still felt like her preparations were taking far too long for what time they had. He was left to sitting on a marble bench while he waited.

When she returned she carried a folded piece of paper in one hand and a leather satchel decorated with sacred gold glyphs in the other. "Here, take this and keep it safe." Impa handed him the piece of paper.

"What is this?" Link said as he unfolded it. On it was inscribed ten symbols which he didn't recognize right away.

"Put that away in your pouch, boy. You must give it to Rodney McKay. "Impa told him. "That is your ticket back here to this time and place. I can't give you a linking book because it make take more time there than we have here. You'll have all the time you need to reforge the sword while you're in their world, but these symbols entered into their portal will return you here just after you leave. Once you return, the clock starts again. Do you understand?" Impa said to him with as much gravity as she could impress upon him.

"I thought you didn't know how to bring me back through." Link said, remembering the warning she gave him the last time he stepped through to the other world.

She looked exasperated with him, then said, "After McKay left us, Princess Zelda had the foresight to send me his journals from Hyrule Castle for safekeeping. The man was kind enough to write down in those journals enough information on how their portal works for me to come up with these. I only hope they have enough power to make the connection work from their end."

"Yes, I understand." Link replied.

"Good, now understand this, Link. The Triforce, all three essences of the Triforce must be returned to the Sacred Realm before sundown tomorrow. That gives you about a day and a half from now in this world. Those symbols should bring you back when I said they would, but in truth I've never tried this before. I don't know if anyone has. I am placing a clock in front of the time portal where you will be able to see it to tell you how much time you have left once you return. Hopefully I will still be standing here setting it up when you step back through."

"I understand." Link replied.

"It is the essence of the Triforce which matters Link. You must take the essence of the Triforce into the Sacred Realm. Once you return, nothing else matters." Impa said.

"What about Zelda's piece of the Triforce? The Triforce of Wisdom?" Link asked. "Shouldn't she be waiting here for me to return?"

"There are a large number of guests due to arrive between now and the coronation through the linking book. It is necessary for her to be there in the Castle to greet them. And the Castle is still the safest place for her to be. I will send word for the princess to come here by Farore's wind as soon as you return. We will attempt to extract the Triforce pieces from the both of you and rejoin it then. Until then, she and it are safest where they are."

She went to the pedestal which once held the Master Sword. Lifting up the leather satchel she withdrew a golden triangle that pulsed and shone with it's own inner power. The whole hall seemed to become subdued and solemn as it was revealed, and Link bowed his head in reverence for Din's gift, the Triforce of Power. She placed it on top of the pedestal placing her hand over it and whispering an incantation. The sacred triangle glowed and light seemed to flow from it into the pedestal. Impa then began pressing indentations on the pedestal and the floor opened up in front of them. In front of them a great ring rose out of the floor and began spinning, symbols on the outside of the ring lighting up.

"What do you mean 'attempt' to extract the Triforce from she and I?" Link asked uncertainly.

Just then a vortex of what resembled water and light whooshed from the ring out in front of them and then back in.

"We're in uncharted territory yet again, boy." Impa said, her eyes on the portal. "I am no goddess, and it is the goddesses alone who truly understand the Triforce and why it does what it does. Power, Wisdom, and Courage are the gifts of the goddesses for us, their children, to live our lives, care for one another, and do what's right. A person cannot have power without the wisdom to know what to do with it and the courage to actually do it. They cannot be wise without the courage to do what they know is right and the power to be successful in that endeavor. Likewise, they cannot be courageous and powerless to do anything or unwise and do stupid things with their courage*. We ourselves must become the embodiment, the incarnation of the Triforce in order to fulfill their will. It is when these virtues are thrown out of balance that we are thrown out of balance and our land falls into chaos."

"Oh, and they certainly won't be expecting you yet." She said, bringing a leather pouch out from under her red robes.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sending you back to their world thirteen years in the past, so only two years would have passed for them. I can't be more accurate than that under the circumstances, but it should be close enough for them to still recognize you, and remember us." She explained.

She then untied the string which bound the leather pouch, exposing a silvery powder and flung the powdery contents into the open portal.

"What was that?" Link asked.

"That was to make sure you emerged in one piece on the other side." Impa replied. "They have some protection from uninvited guests."

Link nodded, then tucked the paper into a pouch on his belt. Without looking back, he went up the steps and stepped through the shimmering blue light.

*Quotation by Impa is from _The Hyrulean Pantheon_ by Jennie Smith (The Wolfess) and published at the-hyrulian-pantheon/


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The damned game again. Shepherd just couldn't escape it, no matter how hard he tried. If it wasn't Rodney's brother in law and niece, then it was Bill Lee trying to get him to play it.

"I just can't watch anyone play that game, let alone play it myself. It's just too weird." He told Bill in response. The day was bright and sunny in the South Pacific Ocean, and they were out fishing off of Atlantis's east pier. The water was calm, and what waves there were lapped gently against the sides of the pier. Overhead, the city's cloaking shield shimmered against the sky. No one outside the shield could see the kilometers wide, floating ancient city. All they would see is empty ocean.

To be honest, Shepherd would have preferred sparring with Teyla or Ronan, but they were on leave visiting the Hawaiian islands for the first time with Carson Beckett and Ronan's girlfriend. So, fishing with Dr. Lee it was.

Bill had just cast his line into the water. "Well, it's a great game, that's all I'm saying. You know it won game of the year two years running." He said defensively, "you should really give it a chance. Besides, it's not like you're the actual character; well, I mean okay, yeah I guess it's supposed to be you, but the character's got a different name, and it's not like he's playable anyway."

"Nah, it was enough to watch Jeanie's family run Link around on the screen, and to hear her husband tell me how much the guy on the screen looked like me." He and Rodney, Atlantis's chief scientist, had taken leave to visit Rodney's sister and her family in Vancouver the past weekend. It was a great time mostly, until her little girl pulled out that game to play it. Shepherd's face scrunched up with unease at the memory.

The game in question was _The Legend of Zelda: Pathways of the Ancestors_. It would be innocent enough except that it chronicled in detail his and his team's very classified six year, time and parallel reality travel mission to Hyrule two years past. No one knew how the developers at Nintendo could have created the game or known about the mission in question. The company was just cooperative enough to change the names of certain characters, representing himself and his team, to not bring the also very classified U.S. Department of Homeworld Security down on the unwitting heads of the Japanese developers. Whenever he left Atlantis, he ran into some reminder of it. It didn't help that, two years later, it was still one of the most popular console games. He groaned when Bill tried to bring up the online multiplayer expansion to it.

After that, Dr. Lee thankfully became more consumed with his rod and reel and their conversation turned to something less stressful involving what kinds of sharks were in these waters that they could possibly catch. John only half paid attention to it as his thought were drawn back to the young man he had watched grow from an anything but ordinary kid to a capable and reliable friend and fellow warrior. There were times he wished that, if anything, the game gave some hint as to how the Link he knew was doing wherever and whenever he was. But the game's story lines that he knew about told him nothing. It ended with he and his team returning home with Impa's warning not to return for at least six years so as not to disrupt Hyrule's time line. He didn't look into the expansion's story.

It had only been two years for Shepherd (though he was eight years older now than when the whole thing started), and life on Atlantis had gone on. Other missions to other worlds in this galaxy took him away from Earth on a regular basis. They had heard little from the Pegasus galaxy in the years since Atlantis had left in order to defend Earth. The I.O.A. contented themselves to leave the people left behind in Pegasus to their own devices now that Atlantis had "returned" to Earth. It was a situation which irked him no end, but which he was powerless to do anything about.

"Link should be nineteen now," he thought about his friend again. "That is, if he hasn't gotten himself killed yet." Then he reminded himself, no, that wasn't right. He's only twelve right now. He's only twelve and Rodney, Davidson, Johnson and I are still there in Hyrule looking for a way home. "Man, time travel's a bitch." He said under his breath.

"Did you say something?" Dr. Lee said.

"No." Shepherd lied. It was tough enough to try and explain it to himself, much less to anyone else. His head began to hurt just trying to think about it. "You know Bill, I think I'm going to wrap this up. I just don't think I'm in the mood for deep sea fishing today." He told Dr. Lee as he began to stand up and pack in his fishing pole and gear.

"Oh, okay." Dr. Lee said in reply. He then asked, "You feeling okay, Colonel?"

"No, I'm getting a headache. Must be the sun or something. I'll go see Doc Keller and get some Advil. I'll catch you later, okay?" Shepherd said.

"Yeah, sure."Bill said. Then he piped up, "Hey you mean Doc McKay now, right?" He said with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, yeah that's right. Sorry, old habits. I don't know if I'll ever get used to that." Shepherd said. Rodney had proposed to Jennifer not long after their return from Hyrule. They'd been married for over a year now. He remembered Rodney telling him "Six years is long enough for me to think about it." So, that happened. Not exactly like in the future Rodney's story. Jennifer never got sick, but still. Yet another creepy thing that happened in his line of work, he thought.

He packed up his gear and started the long walk back to his apartment in the city to stow his fishing gear. And then go see the good, blond haired doctor in question. The city's population had grown since they had returned to Earth. Many of Stargate Command's personnel had been transferred over, and new personnel had been added regularly now that the city was at full power with its three shiny Zero Point Modules powering it. All kinds of experiments and new research were being done all over the place. There were even a few families which were cleared to live and work there. As a result, there were off duty people everywhere, taking walks, fishing, and just relaxing. There were even a few bicycles running along the platform walkways. I need to get one of those, Shepherd thought to himself.

After reaching his apartment and relieving himself of his fishing rod and tackle, he decided to take the transporter to medical center instead of walking. As he entered the transporter and the doors closed, he told the elevator like vehicle to take him to the medical center. As it began to move, he heard the call go through his bluetooth ear piece, "Colonel Shepherd to the gate room! Unscheduled incoming wormhole!"

"Cancel last," Shepherd spoke out loud. "Take me to the gate room." He said.

"Unauthorized gate activity! Incoming wormhole!" The call shouted through Atlantis' command center as the symbols on the gate lit up and the wormhole vortex shot forward from the gate, and then retreat back inwards. "Raise the shield." Woolsey gave the order to raise the energy shield which prevented any traveler from rematerializing inside the gate room. It however also had the downside of ending the traveler that tried it.

The blue energy shield materialized across the diameter of the stargate and held there.

"Do we have any idea where it's from?" Woolsey asked the technician on shift.

"No sir, there's no scheduled travelers or check-ins until at least nineteen hundred hours." The technician responded.

Woolsey checked his watch, it was only two thirty in the afternoon. "Okay, so who is it then?" He asked to no one in particular. Through the windows of the control room, he looked down on the expansive, cathedral like room which held the active stargate, the great metal ring which allowed for wormhole travel across vast distances of space, and even time as they had found. Heavily armed marines in body armor took their stations around the room ready to obliterate anything which got past the energy shield.

The gate stayed open for several more tense minutes. And then the blue energy shield sputtered and winked out.

"Wait, what just happened?" Woolsey demanded.

"I don't know sir, something just interfered with the shield. I can't raise it again." The technician responded.

Woolsey touched his earpiece and said into it, "Dr. McKay to the control room immediately." Just as he turned back to view the scene playing out down in the gate room, he saw the form of Colonel Shepherd arrive, his sidearm drawn and pointed at the open wormhole in front of him.

Never taking his eyes off the gate, Colonel Shepherd touched his earpiece and said, "Woolsey, what the hell happened to the shield?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out, Colonel." Woolsey responded quickly.

Then a familiar figure dressed in a green tunic and chain mail stepped through the watery blue shimmering event horizon of the wormhole. He held no weapon in his hand, and looked a few years older than when he last saw him, but in a split second Shepherd recognized him and called out, "Hold your fire! Friendly! Hold your fire!"

Just as Shepherd was getting his own men to stand down, Dr. McKay stepped into the control room and asked lightly, "Hey, what's up? Did you need me for something?"

Woolsey then pointed through the window down towards the scene in front of them, and McKay's eyes followed his finger until, "No way." McKay said. "That's impossible. He'd still be a twelve year old kid from what Impa told us. That can't be right."

Down in the gate room, Shepherd holstered his weapon slowly and called out, "Link?"

"Colonel Shepherd!" The green clad man in front of him responded in familiar, and happy recognition.

"Stand down, he's one of ours." Shepherd said out loud. "Sort of." he added, extending his hand to him. "How are you here?" Shepherd asked as they clasped hands. "How are you a grown man? You're supposed to be twelve years old right now."

Dr. McKay and Woolsey joined them on the floor of the gate room. "Yes, how are you all grown up now?" McKay asked skeptically.

Link looked confused, and then comprehended. "Impa sent me here, and back in time thirteen years to meet you in this time and place."

"Back in time?" McKay asked. "So you're from a future Hyrule?"

Link nodded.

"She can do that?" Woolsey asked with incredulity.

"How do you speak my language?" Link asked the strange, bald man.

"It's the stargate. It acts like a universal translator," McKay answered, "The last time Zelda came through it uploaded Hylian into the gate network like it does everyone's spoken language and transmits it to nanites it implants in everyone who ever steps through the stargate. We're speaking English, but you're hearing Hylian."

Link looked at Shepherd, confused. "Going through the stargate makes you understand our language." Shepherd translated. "Just not Rodney's language." McKay gave him a dirty look.

Mr. Woolsey then cleared his throat for the three to take notice of him again.

"I'm sorry, Link, this is Richard Woolsey, he's in charge of Atlantis." Shepherd said, realizing Link had never met the man before now. "Mr. Woolsey this is Link..." Shepherd began but then Link continued in a more authoritative voice, "Son of Farore, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Hyrule. And no, Mr. Woolsey it has never been tried, but we had no choice," Link explained, nodding in Woolsey's direction.

"How did she get the power to send you here?" McKay asked.

"She used the Triforce of Power to give our portal the extra energy it needed to bring me here." Link answered.

"But you know we can't send you back to your own time, even if we can send you back to Hyrule through the linking book." Woolsey said. "You must have been desperate to attempt this."

"Impa gave me a set of symbols she said Rodney McKay would know how to use to send me back. She said that this place should now have all the energy it needed to send me back. And yes, we are very desperate."

"What's happened?" Shepherd asked with concern. Hyrule had been his home for six years, whether he wanted it to be at the time or not. Whether or not he felt easy with the game, there would always be a place in his heart for that world.

Link drew the blue hilt of the shattered Master Sword and reverently displayed it to them. "This happened. We need to reforge the blade of the Master Sword, or the Hyrule I know will be destroyed."

"Whoa." Shepherd said. "Wait a minute, what do you mean it will be destroyed?"

Link then explained what had happened.

"So we can take as much time as we need on our side of it, but once you set foot through the gate in Hyrule, the clock to doomsday starts ticking again. Does that about sum it up?" Woolsey asked.

"Yes. Although I would like to be able to return while I am still young enough to live the rest of my life there with my wife and children." Link responded. "And if I don't return with the Master Sword whole, then Hyrule, my family, the princess, our whole world will be lost."

"What makes you think we can reforge the blade?" McKay asked.

"The Master Sword was forged many thousands of years ago by the gods who first entered and shaped Hyrule. As you once told me, they most likely came from this world, and this place. It was our only chance." Link told him.

McKay's face took on a blank expression as his mind began whirring. "They were ancients."

"Yes." Link said.

"Can I see the hilt?" McKay asked. Link carefully handed it to him.

McKay looked it over with an extremely critical eye, especially where the shattered blade had been joined to it. "Yes, aha."

"You can do it?" Link asked.

McKay answered crisply but positively, "I don't know yet. But there's still some fragments of the metal embedded in the hilt. If we can analyze them we can figure out what it was made of and go from there, and," he continued, "in the meantime Bill and I can search the database for any reference to the sword or anything like it, and see what we come up with. He'll love that."

"What about Dr. Zelenka?" Woolsey asked.

"No, no, no. Radek's still working on getting the zed p.m. production plant up and running." After eight years of living there, they had only just recently discovered Atlantis' factory for zero point module production deep in the city's underbelly. "The I.O.A.'s insistent on getting it running on schedule, and between Bill and Radek, I hate to admit it, but I'd rather have Zelenka running the show down there."

"Agreed." Woolsey said.

"Okay then. Now that that's settled," Shepherd said, "Link, for the time being, welcome to Atlantis." As he led him further into the city, he asked, "So you have a wife and kids now?"

"My twin boys are five years old." Link answered.

"Wow, do we have a lot of catching up to do." Shepherd responded. "Are you hungry? Let's go get something in the mess hall while Rodney figures out the sword."

Impa had set the wooden mechanical clock on a stool in front of the portal and waited. Normally such a device would be useless in the temple, but she had made certain adjustments to it so that she would know how much time was left. Even the timelessness of this temple seemed to be affected by the blight.

She had hoped Link would have come back through mere minutes after he left. But the minutes continued on into an hour, and then two, and Impa began to fear something had gone very wrong. But there was nothing she could do.

She collected the Triforce of Power from the control pedestal and returned it to it's protective satchel. They had been extremely fortunate in its recovery, she knew, after the death of Demise and his host. Somehow it survived the blast and was freed from its unholy union with the Demon King, and it seemed to wait for Link to recover it from the battlefield, like it wanted him to find it and return it home to Hyrule and this temple. She was reluctant to return it to its own protective enclosure within the temple yet. She thought she might need its power once more, and so the satchel remained clasped protectively between her hands.

Zelda would be waiting anxiously for word from her, she knew. But there was nothing to be done but wait, and so she did, patiently in front of the portal, attempting to meditate and commune with the goddesses whom she served.

There was a crash nearby and her eyes flew open. Another one, down the hall. She looked at the clock as it still stood on the stool. It had been several hours. No, it was the morning of the coronation! How did that happen? She wondered. Had she fallen asleep? "I am getting old." She said to herself. "I'm even talking to myself, now."

Yet another crash. Someone was smashing urns and vases. Someone else was in the temple! "That's not possible." She caught herself. "No one may enter without my knowing about it." Nevertheless, something or someone was in her home, trashing it.

She stood up and followed the noise, still carefully holding the sacred relic in its case. A figure down the hall in a black cloak was breaking things.

The dark figure spoke out loud in an ugly, rough, black speech which she couldn't decipher to no one in particular.

Impa didn't recognize the gray skinned, mishappen creature in front of her. He certainly didn't look like he was from their world. She reached her hand into the satchel quietly to draw on the divine power once more in the defense of her sacred home.

Then he turned around to face her and she saw his horrid, tortured face and knew this was one of those creatures Link had described to her. "An orc." She said with disgust. "Din!" she called out and pointed towards the ugly thing. A great fireball leapt from her fingertips and flew towards it.

The orc however brought his cloak up and shouted something back, and the fireball broke against his cloak without burning him. "Oh no." Impa said. "You will not have this!" She shouted at it. "Farore!" She called upon the name of the goddess, and dropped a green jewel at her feet. Instantly she would be gone in a flash of green light.

Except she was still there. Farore's wind had failed. The orc held out his clawed hand like he was holding something. "Hylian." He said in her own tongue. "You have powerful magic here. My master brought it to our world before your people murdered him and then hunted my people down like animals."

"What is it you want, demon? You are not welcome here." Impa said, trying to keep him talking to gain time to think.

"I can see that, Hylian." The orc replied. "I want my people to have what rightfully belongs to them. What your people stole from us."

"We took nothing from you that you didn't already steal." Impa replied coolly.

"Middle Earth was ours. The age of the orc was finally to happen, and we would be victorious. You stole this from us." The orc told her, beginning to walk slowly towards her. "My master told me many things of your world. He told me of the power, and the wonders which could be found here. You used that power to destroy my people. I will use it to save them."

"You will burn in whatever hell you came from!" Impa tried the spell again, this time she touched the Triforce of Power and called on its creator to incinerate the foul thing in front of her. A wave of intense, consuming fire flew out from her in every direction melting and scorching even the timeless stone around her.

The demon however was unaffected by it. "Fire I understand little witch." He said as he grabbed her arm and tore the satchel from her grasp. "What is this little toy?" He asked, reaching into the bag.

"Din protect your own!" Impa shouted.

As the orc reached his hand into the bag to touch the sacred golden triangle, power, heat, and light shot forth from it. He then touched it. "I feel it. The power, I can feel it..." He said almost purring.

"It isn't meant for you or your kind!" Impa shouted.

"I will be the judge of that, little witch." The orc responded as he closed his hand around the gold triangle. The Triforce continued to glow brighter and brighter in its satchel, throwing off more and more energy.

"No. You won't." Impa said.

"Ahhh!" The orc screamed as his hand caught fire. "No! I will control it! It will be mine!" The orc then began an incantation and fought back with his magic, ignoring, even reveling in the pain it caused him.

"No, don't!" Impa shouted as the Triforce increased in intensity.

"Arrrrgh!" The Orc cried out, and his hand burst into flame as he dropped to his knees in pain.

The Triforce continued on its path to overload, until finally she heard a sickening crack, and the light faded. The golden triangle went dark.

"What?" Impa opened the bag and drew out the sacred relic. It was black as obsidian or coal. A single, huge crack ran down the center of it from tip to base. "What have you done? You filthy animal creature, what have you done?!" She shouted at the orc, still in pain on its knees.

"Foul witch!" The orc screamed in pain at her. He jumped to his feet and shoved her to the ground. "Your worthless toy was just a trinket." he said as he held the charred remains of the Triforce in his burnt hand. "My brothers and I will finish what my master started. Your princess will know the orcs' wrath before the day has ended. I promise you." He tossed the Triforce to the ground and standing over her and drew a sword he had concealed under his cloak. "But you will not live to see it."

He then plunged the sword into the old woman's body and drove it into the stone floor, pinning her there. The life faded from her eyes as he walked away towards the temple's entrance. He did not look back.

Behind him, had he chosen to look back, he would have seen her empty red robes on the floor, as a stream of living, flowing energy rose from it. "How wrong could you be?" The ascended being that had been Impa said. For a brief moment, she entertained the thought of throwing lightning at the orc that was quickly leaving her temple. But no, she sensed the Others communicating with her, he must be left for he too still has a role to play. And in the many planes of existence that were now open to her, she could see and know that the Hero would put an end to the creature in time, so she did not bother. Instead her attention was focused on the dark triangle. Could she repair it now? She wondered.

She gathered it up to her and explored it. She could sense the inner workings of the device now, and knew every pathway in it. It was cleverly designed to channel the energy of the belief in the virtue it represented and magnify the power of that belief. No ascended being, no deity of Hyrule, and no creature of magic could use it, only flesh and blood mortals born of this world. But it's internal workings were badly damaged and fused together. It was a true miracle that it hadn't exploded when the orc tried using his own powers against it. In time, she might be able to repair it. But unlike so much of her life, time was a luxury she no longer had, not even as an undying being of pure energy.

"What have you done to us, demon?" She asked again. She didn't know where to turn now. She knew, she felt, that Link would return, but the Triforce itself was ruined. Without the first piece, Din's piece, it couldn't be assembled to focus the Power, Wisdom, and Courage needed to heal the Sacred Realm. Would Link understand what she had been trying to say before he left? Would he figure the balance out in time?

The Lady Malon walked with a dignity that no one would have guessed of a woman who had been raised milking cows. As she strode purposefully towards the halls, the castle servants greeted her with polite friendliness to which she returned a warm, and sincere greeting in kind. Many of the older staff she had known from years before when she would make deliveries of milk, or help in driving horses for delivery to the castle from her father, Talon. She was on a first name basis with these older members of the staff who had watched her grow up, and yet they still seemed to stop what they were doing and wait respectfully for her to pass them now.

She had been summoned in the early hours of the morning to the very same council chambers that her husband had been summoned the day before. It was an ominous feeling to her knowing how that meeting had turned out, and her stomach was slowly turning into knots. "Has something happened to my Link?" She asked herself upon receiving the summons at daybreak.

After going through the motions of her duties all that day, she hadn't slept at all that night, tossing and turning in her bed. All night she was tormented with the sight of Link in the Hero's clothes, and the thought that she might not see him again. It was the hardest thing about being his wife. As the wife of the Supreme Commander of Hyrule's military, it meant sharing him with the military and watching as he went out on campaigns with legions of other soldiers to watch his back in the small skirmishes and battles that occasionally arose on Hyrule's borders. That wasn't as difficult to accept because of the other men, loyal men, who were looking out for him. But as the wife of the Hero... That was a different proposition altogether. She knew it meant that she had to share him in some way with Zelda. She didn't fully understand their relationship, but she knew their connection went deep. She could live with that. It was part of the agreement she made when she married him. What terrified her about being the Hero's wife was that it meant she had to share him with, and give him up to the fate of Hyrule itself. It was a fate against whole armies of darkness which he had to face alone, with no one to watch out for him. She had been praying to the goddess all night, every goddess she knew of and whatever gods she didn't know, to protect him and bring him back to her.

It was the morning of Princess Zelda's coronation as queen of Hyrule. The whole castle and all of Castle Town was alive even at that early hour in preparation for the ceremony and the festival which would be held in honor of their newly crowned queen. Banners and streamers displaying the Hylian livery and colors were proudly displayed everywhere inside and outside the castle. The Castle Guard, her husband's men, all saluted her crisply in their freshly cleaned and polished uniforms as she passed by them in her passage from their chambers to the royal council room.

She summoned up whatever courage she had left, straightened her back, and opened the wooden door to enter the spacious council room with the long marble table. At the head of that table as she entered sat the Princess in a simple uniform not unlike Link's guard uniform, wearing her tiara. Her long blond hair had been pulled up into a bun, and the look on her face was all business. Serious business. As Malon scanned the room, there were Zelda's royal advisers all sitting in carved wooden chairs around the table. The ministers of agriculture, foreign affairs, domestic affairs, and all the rest except for one, her husband, were all present. So that's why I'm here, she thought as she entered. To represent my husband and the military. It wouldn't have been the first time she had been called on to fill in while Link was away on official business.

"Lady Malon, we are glad you could join us this morning." Zelda said warmly and sincerely, if somewhat formally. "Please, won't you take the Supreme Commander's seat next to mine." Zelda motioned to the empty, high-backed chair positioned next to her right hand. The prime minister of Hyrule sat opposite to Zelda's left.

"Of course your highness." Malon said, being careful to not allow her voice to betray her relief that representing Link was all it was about. This she could do. She knew almost as much about Hyrule's military capability and readiness as her husband did. It was his usual topic of conversation, and she always paid attention to it.

She deliberately approached the open seat and sat down next to her monarch, being careful to not disrupt the solemnity of the gathering with her movements. She placed her open hands on the table and gave her whole attention to the Princess, just as she assumed her husband would. "How may I serve Hyrule and yourself, your highness?" She asked in the traditional, formal manner.

"Lady Malon, I have been discussing the coronation and its implications with my royal council now all morning." Zelda said, gesturing to the men who sat around the table. Malon chanced a look at their faces and saw that they were all staring with serious faces, not at the Princess, but at her. Why, what did I do? Or what did Link do? Malon asked herself.

"As you and all of Hyrule knows, I am to be crowned Hyrule's queen. But as such, I have never married, and have no heirs. Traditionally, the Hero and the Princess have always formed an alliance both political and marital." Zelda said with gravity. "And as such the Hylian royal line has continued throughout the eons of time."

Malon's heart began to race. Oh no. She thought. She had never expected Zelda, her Zelda whom she had taken to be her best friend and like a sister, to play this card. But she remained silent. She loved her husband, but if Zelda demanded him to continue the royal bloodlines, what could she do?

"However, things change." Zelda continued. "And I could not be more pleased with the Hero's choice for wife, and the brave strong sons she has born him."

So, she wasn't going to take him from her, what then? Malon wondered. Was she going to declare Talon and John her legal heirs?

"I called you here, Lady Malon to reveal to you and in front of the royal council because it concerns the future of our kingdom, what my father revealed to me in private before he passed away." Zelda declared.

Malon sat in silence, her attention riveted to Zelda and her next words.

"Before you and I were born, my father was a good and caring husband. But he was also a mortal man with faults of his own." Zelda began. "There was a time when he fell in love once, unbeknownst to my mother, with a flame haired stable girl. This love became passionate and intimate, and she conceived. In order to hide the pregnancy, and their affair, my father introduced her to a farmer's son and they were quickly married. The farmer's son never knew the girl that was born nine months later wasn't his. And after his wife died in childbirth, my father never revealed it to him."

"Your highness, what are you saying?" Malon asked her heart racing again, not sure if she was understanding what she was hearing correctly.

"You, Lady Malon, presumed daughter of Talon, are also the rightful daughter of Gaepora, King of Red Lions, King of Hyrule, and my father." Zelda told her. "And as such, I am declaring you, my sister, and your sons, Talon and John, in front of my entire royal council, to be my legal and lawful heirs should anything befall me and I am no longer able to rule this land. I have already set this into writing with my seal, and these men are all signatories and witnesses to this effect."

Malon didn't notice that her hands had been pressed so hard on the table that they were turning white. She didn't notice the faces of all the men staring at her, waiting to see her reaction, wondering if she had somehow duped the princess into signing this into law. All she could see was the face of her Princess, no her half-sister, looking intently at her waiting for her response.

"You knew about this since his majesty died?" Malon finally managed to struggle out. "And you didn't tell me?"

"I am sorry, Malon." Zelda said with sincerity. "I had to wait to confirm it with those few servants in the palace who knew. Several of them have since moved on and out into the countryside. It took some time to track them down. I had to be certain before I told you."

"The wise thing." Malon said. "Always the wise thing."

"Yes." Zelda said sadly. "It is my nature."

"So it is." Malon said in reply.

"Gentlemen," Zelda addressed her council, "as you can see for yourselves, the Lady Malon had no prior knowledge of this. I hope that satisfies you as to her innocence in the matter. Now, if you will please excuse us. I wish to talk to my sister, your Princess now, in private."

"We are satisfied, your highness." The prime minister replied, then nodding to Malon gravely, "our apologies to you, your highness." The heads of the other men nodded in agreement one by one, and politely excused themselves, leaving the two women alone in the room at the table.

"I couldn't tell you before now, Malon." Zelda told her, almost pleading. "I had to wait. If I had told you before this, and then brought it to the council, they would have believed the stupid notion that you somehow convinced me of it and were trying to steal the crown from me. They are good men, our father's men, and they were only trying to protect me. I had to protect you from them."

Malon's head was spinning. Her father was not her father. Zelda wasn't just like a sister to her, she was her sister. Her father... Her father. Tears formed on the edges of her eyes. She understood Zelda's reasoning, and the wisdom behind it. There was always wisdom behind everything her sister did. Her sister. The thought came so naturally to her. They had been as close as sisters for the last six years. There was always a strategy behind her what her sister did. She was always four steps ahead of everyone. She entered a room to play a game, and her opponent instinctively knew he had lost before she even sat down to play.

"We have to play the game by its own rules." Malon said, still stunned. "Even the games that mix politics and family, no matter who they hurt."

"Yes, unfortunately we do." Zelda agreed. "Please don't be angry with me." She said, tears forming in her eyes. "I don't want to gain a sister only to lose a best friend."

Malon's tears started to fall. "You won't." She said, and then got up to throw her arms around her sister, who returned the embrace freely as she stood up to meet her. They both stood there, weeping onto each other's shoulders.

When they parted, Zelda asked her, "Would you stand next to me at my coronation, as my sister? I would very much like it if you were at my right hand. I will publicly place my tiara on your head before the Sage of Light places the crown on mine."

"My father, Talon, will be there, as will all of Hyrule. What do I tell him?" Malon asked. The truth would hurt her father without end.

"We will both reveal the truth to him, when the time is right." Zelda said cryptically.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Link stared out over the railing at the tall spires of the floating city and the deep blue ocean beyond it. Colonel Shepherd had brought him to eat lunch on the outside terrace of the mess hall which held one of the most stunning views he had ever laid eyes on. The ocean of Earth was so vast it made him feel small and insignificant. He remembered the oceans of Hyrule from his past lives, and his own personal visits in his youth with Dr. McKay; always looking for the linking book that turned out to be right under their noses the whole time. Link smiled and chuckled at the memory of McKay's face when he found out.

"So your two boys," Shepherd began to ask as he joined him, two trays of food in his hands, "what are their names?" The trays were slid carefully on to the small table.

Link turned from the expansive scene to face him, and smiled, "Talon and John."

Shepherd grinned widely upon hearing the boys' names, and said, "Good names!" He then asked as he sat down, "Do they look like you or Zelda?"

A horrified and embarrassed look spread over Link's face, "Her highness isn't their mother!" He said hurriedly.

"What?" Shepherd said in confusion, shrugging his shoulders and gesturing with his metal silverware. "I thought that was how it was supposed to work. You save the princess, the two of you get married, and you live happily ever after in a big castle. Until the next time." He then added, "I used to live in the castle too. It was pretty big."

Link sat down opposite him, and said, "I'm sorry." He said apologetically. "No, it didn't happen that way. Not this time. Maybe it's because I never actually saved her personally from anything. No, Zelda and I never got together, and never got married. My wife's name is Malon."

Shepherd snapped his fingers trying to remember a face with the name. "Malon, Malon... Hey, wasn't that the name of the farm girl with the red hair out at Lon Lon Ranch? She was what, fifteen the last time I saw her? She was pretty cute as I remember, and worked miracles with some of the toughest horses I've seen."

"You know her?" Link asked in disbelief.

"I'd met her a couple of times. Really nice kid. You remember for six years I had your job, and had to go out there to settle things for the cavalry horses with Talon." Shepherd explained. "You were out roaming the countryside getting yourself into trouble with Rodney." He reminded Link. "Talon was a good man, but Malon really ran things for him. It was pretty obvious."

Link smiled, "She still does," he joked, "at least in our family."

"You did well, buddy." Shepherd said. He then asked, "So Hyrule's doing well then? I mean besides the whole thing with the sword?" Shepherd asked.

"Hyrule has grown and thrived. We now have a train system connecting all the parts of the kingdom, and were looking to expand it further to other friendly lands to open up further trade. Our men are as well trained and disciplined as they've ever been. The land is at peace except for a few border skirmishes with rogue Bokoblin tribes. Zelda is to be crowned queen upon my return. All is going very well."

"Queen? What happened to King Gaepora?" Shepherd asked.

"He passed away from a long illness a month past." Link responded.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Shepherd said sincerely. "Gaepora was a good man, and good ruler."

"Yes, he was." Link agreed.

"But Zelda's sharp as a tack. She'll take care of business the right way. She always has." Shepherd said.

"No one doubts that." Link agreed. "So how long do you think it will take Dr. McKay to give us an answer?" He asked.

"Not long, I hope. It all depends on whether or not anything about the sword is in the city's database, and if it is, how long it takes to find it." Shepherd said. "But, we've got the time, as you said, so let's not worry about it just yet. You just got here, and it's been two years for me and nine for you."

And so they relaxed together as two old friends, and talked about their lives, their mutual friends, and became reacquainted. Neither of them paid any attention to the strange looks different Atlantis team members gave Link as they saw him from within the mess hall.

One little boy who was there with his mother, a scientist assigned to Atlantis, pulled on his mother's hand and said loudly, "Mommy! Is that..." She turned around to look before he could finish his sentence to see the green clad, pointed eared young man having lunch with Atlantis' military base commander. "No, Tyler," she said, unsure of her own answer, "It's probably just some friend of the Colonel's from off world." The little boy continued to stare as his mother made him move on. For the mother's part, the large eyed, elfin eared young man hadn't been the strangest visitor she'd ever seen on the base.

"The Ancients called it the _lamna clavia_." Rodney explained to Shepherd, Link, and Woolsey as they met in Woolsey's office the next day. "Roughly translated, it means, 'the key blade.'"

Link had been offered his own guest quarters in the city, but on the Colonel's invitation chose to sleep on Shepherd's couch that night. It worked out well as Shepherd introduced him to watching a broadcast of the sport of American football that he had told him about so many years before.

"The ancestors called the Master Sword, 'the key blade?'" Link asked.

"Yeah. It took a little bit of digging, but Bill had the idea from another game called 'Kingdom Hearts,'" Rodney began to explain. Upon which Shepherd piped up, "played it. Decent game."

"If I may continue?" Rodney said impatiently.

"Sure." Shepherd said, gesturing back to Rodney.

"It's about some kid named Sora who who runs around with a sword shaped like a key. He fights bad guys with a bunch of Disney characters." Rodney continued.

Shepherd took a sideways glance at Link, and then shuddered at the idea of having to run ops alongside Mickey Mouse. "No thanks." He remarked.

"Anyways," Rodney said, annoyed, "there's this sword in that game that's used to open up portals from one realm to another, and it's called a key blade. So, since that kind of sounded like one of the important functions of the Master Sword we tried running a search term through Atlantis's database using the ancient phrase 'lamna clavia' and presto! It came up with specifications, blueprints, everything we need. Turns out, it wasn't that hard to find really. We just had to know what we were looking for." Rodney explained.

"Okay, the key blade, so it was originally made here then? On Atlantis?" Woolsey asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, it was, believe it or not." Rodney responded excitedly. "It turns out the ancients made several of these key blades tailored to allow access to specific realities through very specific gates so that only the right person or people could or would be allowed to pass through. They were all controlled by the key blades A.I. which in Master Sword's case was Fi. There's even a complete copy of her original program in the database. I mean, it's all there. Everything we need to rebuild it."

"Really, you can reforge the sword?" Link asked, not fully believing his good fortune.

"Absolutely." Rodney said with glee. "Also, I know why it shattered in the first place."

"By all means, tell us." Woolsey said.

"The blade itself exploded." Rodney said.

"Okay, we knew that, Rodney." Shepherd said, a little perturbed.

"Yeah, but now I know why there was an explosion." The scientist said with some glee.

"Why?" Link asked.

"Bill and I analyzed the shard of the blade that was still left in the hilt. Want to know what it was composed of?" McKay asked.

"What?" Shepherd asked impatiently. "Get to the point, Rodney."

Rodney overemphasized the word, "Naquida." He then continued, "It was a composite of specially programmed trinium nanites joined together into a really complex neural network of circuits like cells in a body. These nanites were the bonded and embedded into a naquida base. The circuits for Fi and for some of its other more amazing abilities drew their power from the slow degradation of the naquida. And, the naquida could absorb, store, and release energy like a capacitor. Extra energy absorbed by the blade, if it wasn't released should have strengthened the nuclear bonds between the nanites. The truth is, nothing, I mean nothing should have been able to shatter it."

"I thought you said you knew what caused it to explode." Woolsey said.

"Yeah, I do. The sangraal jewel we attached to it." Rodney said.

"What do you mean?" Shepherd asked.

"The blade was meant to absorb energy, while the sangraal jewel was meant to disrupt it and cancel out the energy waves of ascended beings. When Link activated it and used it to kill Demise and his host, the blade couldn't handle the conflicting energy pulses and overloaded instead, causing a tiny nuclear explosion localized to Demise's host." Rodney explained further.

"Well then how did Link and the hilt survive a nuclear blast?" Woolsey asked in disbelief.

"Nayru's love." Link said. "It was the remnants of Nayru's love covering me and the hilt of the sword."

"Nayru's love?" Woolsey asked, not understanding. "Who's Nayru?"

"Nayru's love is a shield spell the Hylians use, kind of like those Ancient personal shields we've found around the city." Shepherd explained. "Except it doesn't last more than a few minutes of combat."

"I see." Woolsey rubbed his face in his hands, trying to process what he was hearing. "So doctor, let me get this straight. The Master Sword, this key blade, exploded because of the modification we made to it in order to kill Demise, does that about sum it up?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Rodney said.

"It's our fault." Shepherd said quietly, angry at himself. "We put Hyrule in danger trying to do a good deed. Dammit, after this many years you'd think we'd have learned by now to not try and upset the balance of things we know nothing about."

"But, you can reforge it. We still have time to save my world? Right?" Link asked.

"Yeah, absolutely. We've got all the materials right here on Atlantis, and it wouldn't take much." Rodney responded with confidence.

"And you can restore Fi?" Link asked.

"Yeah, I believe so. The circuitry's pretty complex, and the main circuits in the hilt took a pretty bad beating, but yeah, I think so. I don't know if she'll have all of the memories of the Fi you knew, but the base program should be the same." Rodney replied. "But she'll be able to open the portals anyways."

"Good enough." Shepherd said.

"How long?" Link asked.

"Uh, let me think. We just have to get the replicator table back up and running again, and load the specs into the system... uh.. time to get the materials and everything into place... time to write the program to make it all come together again... and a couple of days tops? I think. I didn't think we were in a super big hurry on our end."

"A couple of days?" Link thought about it. "That should be perfect. I just wish I could get a message to Impa and let her know."

"No, can't try that yet. I looked at the gate coordinate she wrote down. Even for us at full power, that's a three zed p.m. connection. If we hadn't found the zero point module factory I wouldn't have even tried to dial it up." Rodney explained. "It's a one shot deal. I don't know how she got the power to send you here for that matter."

"She used the Triforce of Power." Link reminded him.

"Oh. Well then it should have been no problem for her." Rodney said sheepishly.

"Okay, so Link spends a few days on Atlantis, we fix the sword, he takes it back and heals the Sacred Realm, and everything's kosher right?" Shepherd asked. "Did I leave anything out?"

No one had anything to add.

"Good, then we have a plan. Let's get to it gentlemen. Supreme Commander," Woolsey addressed Link with his formal title, "as a formal dignitary of the Kingdom of Hyrule, I invite you to be our welcome guest and to enjoy your stay here on Atlantis. Please let me know if I can do anything to make your stay here more comfortable."

"Thank you Mr. Woolsey." Link responded in kind.

The day was beautiful around Hyrule Castle as the sun rose and everyone prepared for the crowning of their new queen. Guests from all over their world, Hylians, Gorons, Zoras, representatives from Labrynia and Paladrum from across the sea, the Mayor of Clock Town and his retinue from Termina, and the honored guests, his majesty King Eldarion the second of the United Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor and his royal council and their retinue from Middle Earth had gathered to pay their respects and tribute to the newly crowned queen whose generous support had saved their world from catastrophe. The preparations for the coronation festival in Castle Town were in place and everyone was in a festive mood.

The clock tower tolled the hour before noon, and the ceremony had begun in earnest as all the guests who were able and invited to filled the royal great hall of Hyrule Castle to witness Zelda's coronation before the throne of her father. Around the perimeter of the hall and up in the balconies stood the gray uniformed Castle Guard watching the crowd intently rifles at the ready, each an expert marksman, though none of them expected any serious threats. The Princess was much loved by everyone in the crowd, and the whole of Hyrule's professional standing army, over two thousand, well trained and disciplined men, all had been assigned in and around the castle, castle town, and the surrounding region in a pattern of concentric circles on Link's orders to prevent anything from ruining the most important day of the Princess's life.

As the ceremony began, trumpets blared in unison announcing the arrival of the Princess to the throne room. What the people in the crowd did not expect was the red haired woman dressed in an identical silver, gold, and pink gown to Zelda's displaying the Hylian royal family's crest accompanying her onto the dais. They were flanked by Sir William and Sir Portant, Link's generals and second in rank only to himself. He insisted on trusting the immediate security of Zelda, and unknownst to him, Malon, to no one else.

"My people," Zelda's voice rang out loud, and clear, and strong. "Thank you for coming to share this very special day with me. Hyrule has gone through many changes over the eons of her history. We now enter a new age which none of us could have imagined. An age where we will be free to progress and grow as the goddesses always intended us to. If you will let me, by the will of the goddesses I will lead you into this new age."

A great cheer rose up from the crowd, and applause that was deafening. All eyes, including the castle guards' eyes were on the Princess.

"As many of you know, the burden of leadership is a heavy one, and no one lives forever. Up until now I myself have had no heirs to carry on this work of bringing Hyrule into this new age should anything happen to me." She continued, and the crowd was enthralled. What was the Princess up to? Many of them wondered.

Then Princess Zelda did something that stunned the crowd. She carefully removed the silver tiara which had been upon her head and placed it upon the head of the red headed young woman standing next to her, smiling as she did so. She then proclaimed to the crowd, "So I here today, in the sight of the goddesses and all the people of Hyrule adopt the Lady Malon, daughter of Talon, wife of Link, the Hero of Hyrule, and her two sons Talon and John, sons of Link as my rightful heirs to the throne, and my true and lawful sister!"

A murmur passed through the crowd. Such a thing had never been done before? Many in the crowd knew and loved the Lady Malon and her family, but adoption into the Royal Family of a one time milk maid? Could that be done?

A clear strong, masculine voice rang out from the crowd, "All hail the Princess Malon!" Soon another voice carried the call, and then another, and another and the ceremonial guard picked it up as well until the entire hall was filled with the adulation, "All hail the Princess Malon!"

The young woman's face turned beet red as she stood next to the Princess Zelda at her right hand facing the crowd. She knew the voice which had started the cry. It belonged to her father, Talon. She wondered if somehow he had known all along, or if he was just supporting her the best way he could; the way he always had.

Zelda turned to her and smiled, giving her a full embrace as her sister in front of the whole of Hyrule. She then whispered into her ear, "Now, no one can question who you are. Today, I return to you your rightful heritage and inheritance my sister." She then kissed Malon on the cheek, and withdrew from her.

She then motioned to the crowd to quiet down and the trumpets sounded again. She faced the throne as the Sage of Light, Rauro, an old and wise man ascended the steps of the dais, the red robes of his office emblazoned with the emblem of light in bright gold thread. In his hands he held the royal crown of Hyrule, the very same crown which had graced the brow of Zelda's beloved father, Gaepora. She looked at it sadly and nodded her head as Rauru came to stand between her and the throne. She then turned around to face the crowd and knelt in her gown with both knees on the dais under the great carved marble relief of the Triforce and the goddesses Din, Nayru, and Farore who created it and their land.

The Sage of Light held the great crown over her head and a hush fell over the audience as they all strained to hear what was to take place.

He began the ancient rite, "Do you, Zelda, daughter of Gaepora, keeper of the Triforce of Wisdom, so solemnly swear in the presence of the goddesses Din, Nayru, and Farore, and the people of the Kingdom of Hyrule to rule and guide our people with Power, Wisdom, and Courage for the benefit of all the people and races of the Kingdom of Hyrule, forsaking your own will, desires, and even your very life as a living sacrifice according to the laws and traditions of this blessed land?"

Zelda responded clearly and loudly so all could hear her, "I so solemnly swear."

Rauru continued, "Then I crown you..." He never got the chance to finish as the crown toppled from his grasp and he fell to the ground. A huge black arrow pierced through his midsection. Someone screamed and Zelda realized it had been her as she also collapsed to the ground, a bright red stain spreading from a great hole in her chest where the same arrow had pierced through with such force that it continued on towards her friend and mentor.

From there things seemed to happen in slow motion around them as Sir William dove to get Malon under cover, shielding her with his own body, and Sir Portant dove to cover his not yet crowned queen, her blood staining his otherwise immaculate gray uniform. Malon couldn't see what was happening, until her eyes found her newly discovered sister, the life draining out of her. Sir Portant seemed to be screaming for something, and she heard the sounds of rifles going off all around her overhead. She didn't know where they were shooting at or who they were trying to shoot.

She barely heard Sir Portant's words, "I need Red Potion, or a fairy now! Right now! Stay with me Princess, stay with me! RED POTION, NOW! RIGHT NOW!"

"Malon..." Zelda's weak voice, she could hear it somehow. "My sister..." Malon pushed herself away from Sir William and went to Zelda's side while Sir William tried to move with her to keep her from harm. "Zelda, I'm here, my sister I'm here." Malon said, tears flowing. "Take care of Hyrule for me..." Zelda said. "I go to rejoin my sisters... no longer bound to this mortal form... can't stay with you any longer, have to let go of my burdens." Then she breathed her last, and her eyes stared lifelessly into nothingness.

Time seemed to stand still for Malon then even though it was a whirl of motion and sound around her. "My sister..." She whispered softly, gently stroking Zelda's hair in a way she had never dared do before. "My sister..." She repeated again as Sir William began to tug on her, trying to pull her away. And then, in an eternal instant, Zelda's peaceful, lifeless form began to melt away into a glow of pure white light and her bloodied clothes were suddenly emptied as the pure, white energy of light rose and Malon's eyes followed it. And in the middle of it she would later swear that she could see Zelda's face smiling down on her and whispering, "I'm free." And then the light ascended into the air and into the space in front of the carving of the Triforce and the goddesses, and for a brief moment it appeared to light all three sacred triangles with a golden glow, and then it rose through the ceiling of the hall and she was gone.

"... got to get you out of here, your highness!" Sir William was pleading with her she heard as she found him tugging on her arm. Time sped up and all the events that were happening around her came crashing down upon her. "Come your highness, please, we've got to get you someplace safe!" She nodded and finally allowed him to take her from the nightmare around her.

Sir William and Sir Portant flanked Malon on either side, grasping both of her arms as seven more Castle Guards surrounded the three of them closely. They whisked her away quickly and into a side room with a table and some comfortable plush chairs. In better times, the Princess had entertained casual guests there. She and Malon had even had tea in that room before, sitting in the very same chairs.

The Castle guards took up positions at the door of the room while Sir Portant asked her urgently, "Are you hurt your highness? Are you injured?"

What a question. Had she been injured that day? In how many ways? But she answered, "No. I'm... I'm alright."

"What are your orders your highness?" Sir William asked her, waiting for instructions.

"My orders?" Malon asked in confusion. Why are they asking me what to do?

"With her highness Zelda dead, you are now in command as monarch of Hyrule, your highness." Sir William responded.

Malon sat stunned. "I'm in charge?" She asked again.

"Yes, your highness." Sir William responded. Then, after a second had passed he drew his sword from its scabbard and dropped to one knee in front of her, placing the point of the blade on the floor, and holding the hilt with both hands. Sir Portant joined him on the floor on his knees, and so did the Castle Guards who were not immediately watching the door. "We pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor to serve your highness, Princess Malon, Monarch of Hyrule." Sir William intoned, and the others repeated immediately as they swore fealty to their new sovereign.

Something inside of her then took charge and her tears stopped flowing. She was a king's daughter. She had only learned of it this morning, but it would forever define who she was from then on. She had to start acting like one. Malon straightened herself up in her chair and stood over them as regally and with as much dignity as she could. These people didn't need a weepy milk maid now. They needed the power, wisdom, and courage only their Princess could give them. And she would be that for them. She owed her sister no less.

"I accept your fealty sir knights. Rise." She said with authority.

"Your orders, your highness?" Sir William asked again.

"Ensure the safety of the guests. Bring my sons here. Secure the Castle. Bring me the head of the assassin. Go." She said flatly. She hoped it was what Zelda would have said.

"At once it will be done, your highness. I swear it." Sir William said, relieved. He then moved to give the commands to carry out her wishes, calling on the guards nearby to relay her orders. No one questioned her right to give them.

"Hylia give me wisdom, help me to rule our people as you would have... my sister." Malon prayed silently. She wanted so much to collapse back into the plush chair and sob, but she refused to allow herself the luxury. She would remain standing and in charge of herself until she knew her people were safe.

Somewhere overhead, as she saw the chaos that had erupted and moved to gently guide the terrified people below with gentle reassuring nudges, ensuring that no one else was harmed that day, a being of pure energy heard the quiet prayer being offered to her, and knew that her kingdom would be in good hands, just as she had foreseen.

She couldn't have explained to anyone what she knew or how she knew it. But she knew she would never be crowned Hyrule's queen. That wasn't her destiny. Her time in mortal form had passed. She was glad she and her mortal sister had found each other, even if they only discovered their true relationship hours before her having to shed the flesh and blood she had inhabited for so long.

Far below her she could see the orcs who were responsible clearly. They appeared to her like dark beacons amidst a sea of good and generous people. She saw that the Castle Guard had also spotted them, even if it was too late and began shooting. They were expert marksmen, but they were reacting in shock, anger, and panic as it looked like they were shooting into the crowd. She made sure no stray bullets hit any of the innocent people in the line of fire. The orcs received no such mercy from her.

There were three, as she could see. Two of them, the archers, fell within seconds of the guards' shots. They remained where they fell as the crowd struggled to get away from the black cloaked, grotesque monstrosities. The massive, black crossbow they used lay broken on the floor next to them, torn apart by the large number of bullets that found their targets with, and without, her aid.

The third was different, she could sense. A mage or sorcerer of some kind with powers not unlike the great temple sages themselves. This creature with the burnt right hand was dangerous and had to be stopped, she knew. But then she could hear her sisters calling her, letting her know that he would be, by the Hero's hand. So she let him go.

She then turned her attention to the dais where she could see clearly, glowing like a beacon in the night, the sacred triangle of the Triforce of Wisdom which once had been housed in her mortal frame. She focused her attention on that, descending again into the chaos and gathering it to herself. She then stole away to the Temple of Time, where she knew the Hero would have need of it soon.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"We have an emergency that's developed on P3X-758," Mr. Woolsey began the hastily called briefing in Atlantis's wood paneled conference room. Colonel Shepherd, Doctor McKay, and the quickly assembled team members of "S.G."s 15 and 17, two four man stargate special operations teams, sat around the table to receive their instructions.

Shepherd had been sparring with Link in the training room that morning when the call had come through and was feeling the bruises acutely from the wooden practice swords. He had always thought Ronan was the man to beat, but the years had not dulled his green clad friend's abilities one bit. If anything he was sharper than he had ever been. Shepherd could testify first hand. He had left Link to go through his sword practice on his own. A single special forces man had stood by the door as a customary precaution with outside visitors, not that he really could have stopped Link if he had tried, but it made Woolsey and the higher brass feel better.

Woolsey continued, "About six hours ago, an Ori warship showed up in orbit over the planet and began ringing down squads of soldiers into the village. The soldiers were accompanied and being given orders by a Prior. Within an hour of their arrival, the prior began attempting to convert the town to the Book of Origin by force."

"Hang on, I thought all the Priors in the Milky Way had been converted to our side by the Ark of Truth? What happened to this one?" McKay asked.

"Apparently he didn't get the memo." Woolsey responded.

"Okay, so we have a hostage situation." Shepherd said. "How many Ori soldiers?"

"According to the report of the one S.G. team member who managed to make it back through the gate before they took complete control over it, the whole ship's complement of several hundred." Woolsey said.

"We had an S.G. team there, sir?" A man named Major Gatsby, a member of S.G.-15 asked.

"Yes, S.G.-10 was there on assignment with Dr. Jackson. He believed P3X-758 was one of Merlin's Arthurian "seed" worlds and was doing more research on it. We believe Dr. Jackson has been taken hostage along with the townsfolk.

"Okay, so the gate is under hostile control, and there's an unfriendly warship in orbit over the planet. What's the plan?" Shepherd asked.

"You and your teams are to take a jumper and hitch a ride with the Hammond. The Hammond will drop out of hyperspace behind the large gas giant in the system. You, Colonel Shepherd, will pilot the jumper cloaked from your drop off point to the outskirts of the town. From there, your primary mission is to extract Dr. Jackson and the remaining members of the S.G. team from the town. Under the circumstances of so many enemy soldiers, there may be nothing we can do for the regular townsfolk. Our people are the priority. Colonel Carter is in parking orbit over us waiting to pick you up with the jumper." Woolsey finished. "If there are no more questions then..."

"Hey, it really doesn't sound like you'll be needing me on this one, so if you'll excuse me I've got a sword to reforge for our guest." McKay said.

"Yeah, yeah... go ahead. This isn't your kind of thing anyway." Shepherd said, deep in thought.

Surprised but happy at the lack of argument, Rodney quickly made his escape from the briefing room as the other men rose from their seats to go and suit up.

"How many townsfolk are being held there?" Shepherd asked Woolsey as the rest of the men left.

Woolsey looked very sad at the question. "Over a thousand unarmed men, women, and children." He answered. "But we can't risk a full conflict with the soldiers or the prior, or it would endanger our own people as well as the town. For all we know they might decide to blast the town from space."

"So we would need to secure the gate, take out hundreds of Ori troops, the renegade prior, and the ship with just my guys?" Shepherd asked.

"I don't see how it's possible, but yes." Woolsey responded.

Shepherd then asked, "Let me take Link with us."

"I'm sorry?" Woolsey asked. "I don't think I heard you right."

"I'm serious, let me take Link with us. This is just the kind of thing he specializes in." Shepherd said again.

"I can't let an unknown and unproven man in to jeopardize..." Woolsey began to object, but Shepherd cut him off.

"I know him, and he's proven what he can do over and over in all the years I knew him before. He saved our asses a hundred times when he was just a kid, and I watched him singlehandedly take down an entire battalion of orcs and their Ori possessed leader with my own eyes. Just this morning he kicked my ass soundly at sparring." Shepherd told him. There was no question in his mind that if this was going to turn out well for everyone except the bad guys he would want his old friend with him.

"And do you forget that his whole world is depending on him to return and solve their crisis? Not to mention that he's an offworld dignitary staying as our guest." Woolsey retorted.

"I wouldn't worry about his safety. I'd be more worried for the bad guys than for him." Shepherd said.

"This isn't a video game, Colonel. If he dies here, there are real consequences." Wolsey said.

"I know that, and so does he. Look, I'll ask him and see if he's willing." Shepherd said, partly conceding, but knowing what his friend's answer would probably be. "There are a thousand lives depending on this. Men, women, and children."

Woolsey's face became pained. "I don't like abandoning them any more than you do." He said quietly. Then he conceded, "Alright, if Link will go with you then you have my permission to bring him along. Your primary objective remain our people. Your secondary objective is liberating the townspeople. Don't sacrifice the first to accomplish the second. Understand?"

"Understood, sir. We don't leave our people behind." Shepherd said and then moved to go retrieve Link. As he walked out the door, Woolsey called out, "Oh and Colonel?"

Shepherd stopped and turned around. "Good luck." Woolsey said sincerely. Shepherd nodded solemnly and then left Mr. Woolsey alone with his thoughts.

Link, Shepherd, and the other eight men of the rescue team waited in the jumper as the Hammond raced through hyperspace to the crisis at hand. None of them left the jumper during the journey for two reasons. The first was because the planet in question wasn't far enough of a journey through hyperspace for any of them to need to stretch their legs, and the second was because of the more unusual member of their special operations team. The fewer people that knew about him, the better, even among the high security cleared crew members of the United States Air Force Vessel _General Hammond_. Technically, he wasn't even supposed to be there, but these were special circumstances.

Link had given Shepherd the answer the Colonel expected after he approached him in the sparring room and explained the situation.

"How many townspeople?" Link asked.

"About a thousand." Shepherd responded. "Look, I know they're not your responsibility, but these kinds of odds are your forte."

Link nodded silently.

"We're only supposed to be going in to rescue our people. Technically, the higher brass won't know you're with us this time. But we can't just leave them at the mercy of the Prior." Shepherd said. "You'll be on your own for most of it. While we focus on our hostages, I'm asking you to..."

Link looked at him, all hints of lightheartedness or friendly conversation gone from his face, which had become stone cold and resolute. Shepherd's sentence trailed off. Link stood up and grabbed one of the very real, very sharp swords by the hilt that hung in the sparring room of the kind that Shepherd's friend Ronan tended to favor. He swung it a few times to get the feel and balance of it. Then, satisfied he slid it into the empty scabbard on his back. "When do we leave?" Link asked, his tone of voice brooking no argument with his coming.

"Right now." Shepherd had said.

They had paid a quick visit to the armory where Shepherd picked up his own equipment, and outfitted Link with an additional staff blast proof flack jacket. He then familiarized him with a set of baseball shaped grenades, "just like Eldin bombs," he had told him as Link nodded in understanding.

Shepherd also handed him a P-90 automatic rifle set to single shot. "Remember how to shoot a rifle? Pull this, aim, press the trigger. The red dot will show you where the bullet will go."

"Nice." Link responded.

Lastly, Shepherd handed him a pistol with a full clip. "Alright, good to go, buddy?" He asked.

"You don't use a shield?" Link asked.

"You can improvise when we get there." Shepherd had told him. Link just shook his head at the strangeness of it all.

After that they had quickly rejoined the rest of the team who were waiting in the jumper bay for their team leader. A few of them gave Link an inquisitive look. "Who is this, sir?" One of them, Collins Shepherd remembered his name, had asked.

"Gentlemen this is Link. Link, this is Collins, Gatsby, Jasper, Williams, Zvedny, Kluczinski, Stevens, and Kelly. Link is going to handle the Ori for us while we rescue our people." Shepherd replied.

They all looked at the pointy eared man whom they thought was dressed like a bad-ass Peter Pan without Tinkerbell and then gave a skeptical look to Shepherd. "Seriously, sir?" Jasper asked.

"Think Ronan Dex on steroids on a bad day." Shepherd said.

They all did looked at Link again and just shook their heads, "If you say so, sir."

"I do say so, and that's the end of it. He's seen more combat and kicked more ass than any of you and I combined. Understand?" Shepherd said, ending any dissent right there. "Yes, sir!" They all said crisply in reply. "Now get on the jumper. Alright, let's move." He ordered.

That had been a couple of hours previous, and they now all sat in tense anticipation. Once they arrived, it would take another three hours by cloaked jumper from their drop off at the gas giant to reach the planet.

"How are you doing?" Shepherd asked Link.

Link had been staring out the view port of the jumper as they undocked from the Hammond. "It's like an endless night surrounding us. Your world seemed so small as we left it." He said. "I wonder if Hyrule is really that small as well, like a tiny blue jewel hanging in the night."

Shepherd had never thought of Link as poetic before. "Yeah, I imagine it is."

"Then our world is so much larger than I had thought if our land is also encompassed by other worlds around it suspended in the blackness." Link said.

"Yeah." Shepherd said, not understanding where this was going.

"Then what's happening in our Sacred Realm doesn't just affect our land and sky. It affects all those other worlds connect to us through the void, just as these worlds are connected to Earth through the void." Link concluded.

Shepherd hadn't thought that far about it. "Yeah, I guess your right." The implications were staggering.

"I am responsible for the fate of millions, maybe even billions of lives." Link said gravely.

Shepherd knew the feeling all too well. "Welcome to our world, buddy. We do that almost every day it seems like."

Link just nodded.

The town had just gone into night when the jumper landed. The S.G. team went one direction and bid Link good hunting as he went the other. They agreed to rendezvous back there by dawn. Everything had to be finished by then.

Between the two S.G. teams, S.G. 15 was assigned to regain control of the Stargate in case they couldn't escape by means of the puddle-jumper. S.G. 17 and Colonel Shepherd were to infiltrate the village and rescue Dr. Jackson and S.G. 10, assuming they were still alive.

Shepherd and S.G. 17 crept silently, weapons drawn towards the town, expecting to have to silently remove any hostile soldiers in their way. There should have been hundreds of them. But as they approached the town, all they began to find were the corpses of Ori soldiers.

"What the hell happened here, Colonel?" Williams asked quietly as he inspected the slash and stab marks on the bodies. "My god, it looks like a crazy butcher just came through." The blood of the dead men was still fresh on the ground.

Shepherd knelt down and inspected the corpses. "Looks like Link's gotten here ahead of us. We'd better hurry or there may not be any bad guys left for us."

As they continued their way, always keeping alert, in the distance they heard strangled cries, and then the loud bang of a grenade. It was eery. Staff blasts could be heard being shot into the darkness and never finding their target. "There's got to be something else out there Colonel. No way this was the work of one guy, no matter who he is." Gatsby said, some fear creeping into his voice.

"You ever play _The Legend of Zelda_, Major?" Shepherd asked him.

"Yeah, a couple of times with my kid." he told him.

"The guy on the screen look familiar to you at all? You know, the one in green taking down armies of bad guys all on his own?" Shepherd asked sarcastically.

Then comprehension dawned on the soldier, "Jesus, you don't mean our guy's...?"

"Good, now you understand why I felt more sorry for these soldiers than I did for us going into this with him, and why I wanted him here." Shepherd said, feeling justified.

"So what do we get to do then? Hang around and hold his coat?" Jasper asked.

"No, he has his job to do, and we have ours. And he might need back up with the Prior." Shepherd said. "Let's go."

Link had advanced to the inside of the village. Behind him and around the surrounding woods lay the dead and dismembered bodies of those "bad guys", as Colonel Shepherd called them, who tried to slow him down. "I thought the Colonel said this was going to be difficult." Link said to himself. He had lost count of the number of men that lay dead. It bothered him that they were all men like Colonel Shepherd and his team, and not monsters like he was used to facing. Did they all have families like I do? Link wondered to himself. What were they fighting for? He also wondered. They were dead, but the question still mattered to him.

He stayed to the shadows as he quickly dispatched the guards around the perimeter of the village square with his blade. The sword was silent, and he needed stealth. His other memories informed him of the many times he had needed to sneak through an enemy encampment like this, quietly taking out guards so as not to raise the alarm. This was no different. He had not needed to use one bullet yet, although he had used a grenade farther out on a group of unsuspecting soldiers. "Demon!" The men had cried in terror as he quickly finished them off and disappeared into the shadows.

The square cleared, his next focus was this "Prior" sorcerer and his "ship" high above them. Doubtless the prior knew he was here now, and would be making plans accordingly to compensate for the egregious loss of his troops. Would he run, or would he stand and fight? Link wondered.

"The truth of Origin does not run in fear from unbelievers." A gravelly voice said from behind him. Link spun around to face the gray robed, balding man. His face was covered with silver-gold markings, and what hair he had was snow white. He could have been one of Hyrule's Sages.

Link didn't respond, but analyzed his position. He had dealt with sorcerers before, he knew. It never ended well for the mage in question.

"You cannot win, child." The Prior said in an almost fatherly way. "Come and let the light of Origin guide you."

"No thank you." Link responded and quickly tossed a grenade in the Prior's direction.

The Prior saw the live grenade and thrust out his hand, sending a wave of force to cast it back at the sender. But Link had also played this game before and used the flat of his sword to bat it back at the Prior where it exploded two feet in front of him, sending the older man flying backwards in pain.

Link advanced on him, and the Prior recovered far more quickly than he should have and raised himself up onto his feet. "You will burn in the fires of damnation!" He said to the Hylian. And thrust out his hand again.

Link was picked up off of his feet and hung in the air far above the ground. His hands and arms were still free to move as his legs flailed underneath him. He dug his hand into a pouch which hung at his belt and produced a small red crystal. Shouting the name of the goddess, "Din!" The red crystal glowed as he threw it to the ground where it exploded into a fireball spreading outwards and taking the prior by surprise. Link fell to the ground as the Prior was forced to focus his power on keeping himself from being burned. The white hot flames reached him and passed over him beginning to die out before they reached the buildings around the two combatants.

Link advanced on him again, and the Prior sent a wave of force at him again, except this time it was weaker. "Let's see who's gods are stronger, sorcerer! Yours or mine." Link taunted him.

The Prior howled in rage at the impudence of the young man. Overhead a great storm cloud began to form and lightning crackled across its face. "The Ori will strike you down for your blasphemy!" The old man raged.

"I don't think so." A familiar voice said from behind the Prior, and the storm clouds collapsed and fell apart as the Prior turned around to see the smiling face of Colonel Shepherd, holding a black disk with small lights orbiting the edge. "Recognize this, spanky?"

The Prior didn't see or sense the tiny red dot of light on the back of his head before the shot rang out. His eyes registered surprise as he dropped to the ground. Taking advantage of Colonel Shepherd's distraction, Link hadn't hesitated with the P-90 he had been carrying all night, and hadn't used before now. His aim, aided by the laser sight, had been perfect.

"Nice shot, Peter Pan!" Jasper quipped.

Link nodded, not understanding the reference.

"You could have left some of the bad guys for us, you know." Shepherd scolded him jokingly.

"Don't worry, I did. I didn't hunt the north side of the town. I'm sure there are some there totally oblivious to what just happened." Link responded in kind. "And there's still the warship overhead."

"Oh goody." Shepherd retorted. "Going soft are we?"

"Collins to Colonel Shepherd." The voice came through Shepherd's radio as he tapped it with his fingers.

"Go ahead." He responded.

"Stargate secure. Hostile forces neutralized." Collins responded.

"Situation secure in the town. Prior has been neutralized. Very neutralized. Some random hostiles still north of the town. Dial up Atlantis and radio Woolsey, apprise him of our situation, and see if he can't get a hold of Colonel Carter to do something about the Ori ship in orbit that's blocking her parking spot." Shepherd instructed him. "No Prior, no one to fly the ship. It's a sitting duck." Shepherd explained.

"Will do. With pleasure, sir." Collins responded. "If Woolsey asks, how did you manage to take out the Ori ground troops so quickly?"

Shepherd looked at Link, smiled and then said, "Tell him Link was having an off day. He missed a few. Woolsey will know what I mean."

"10-4." Collins responded.

The six of them in the square then did a building to building search for their men, eliminating any remaining Ori guards. About an hour later, they finally found the bound men, Daniel Jackson and the three other men from S.G. 10 seated on the floor in the mayor's house. As they untied them and led them out of the house there was a tremendous explosion overhead as pieces of fireball fell through the atmosphere.

"What was that?" Dr. Jackson asked.

"I think that was Colonel Carter revoking the Ori ship's parking permit." Shepherd replied.

"Oh." Daniel replied.

"Shepherd to Collins." Shepherd said into the radio.

"Collins."

"Confirm visual on Ori ship kill to Atlantis." Shepherd said.

"10-4. Yeah, we saw it too." Collins responded.

After flushing out the rest of the Ori ground forces, taking as many captive as would surrender, the teams and the hostages they had been sent to rescue returned by jumper through the stargate to Atlantis instead of hitching a ride back with the Hammond.

After settling in and debriefing all of them, Woolsey pulled Link and Shepherd aside.

"About an hour before you returned, we received a transmitted message in English through the stargate that was addressed to you, Link. I'm sorry but because of security concerns we had to open it and see what it contained." Woolsey said.

"Who would be sending a message to you through the stargate?" Shepherd asked, addressing his friend. "Could Impa have? And why would she have?"

"I don't know." Link said. "The symbols she gave me were supposed to return me to the Temple of Time right after I left. Something must have gone wrong."

"I'm afraid it did, Supreme Commander." Woolsey said with a great weight on him. "Zelda is dead."

It hit the young man like a physical blow and he staggered backwards, falling to his knees. "That's not possible." He said.

"According to the message it was done by three orc assassins, one of them was a 'sorcerer.' She died at her coronation. I'm so sorry." Woolsey said.

"No, that wasn't supposed to happen. Time wasn't supposed to continue while I've been gone. My men. I had two thousand men guarding the castle and the temple. Good men. Zelda..." Link broke. "I've failed. I've failed the goddess. I wasn't there to protect her. I wasn't there to protect Hyrule."

Shepherd had never seen him like that before, but he had his own feelings on the issue to contend with. He had known the uber-mature, wise, and kind girl since she was ten years old, and had watched her grow up alongside Link. Like Link, there was a time when he had sworn to protect her as well. Like Link, he felt the sting of failure in his mission with the death of someone he had cared about too. He was angry. Very, very angry.

"I'm going back with you Link, and we're going to catch that orc sorcerer son of a bitch." Shepherd declared.

"Now wait just a minute, Colonel, I can't authorize you to..." Woolsey tried to put the brakes on him.

"I'm going, Woolsey." Shepherd said again, "with or without your permission."

"I sympathize, Colonel. I met her, too, remember? Even as young as she was then, she was still an extraordinary girl. But I can't authorize an S.G. team to travel across realities on a revenge mission you may not be able to come back from." Woolsey tried to reason with him.

"Not my whole team, just me." Shepherd said. "It's just going to be Link and I. We both have to do this." Shepherd said.

"Link has to go back. It's his responsibility. He swore an oath to her, just as you swore an oath to the United States." Woolsey said firmly.

"I SWORE AN OATH TO HER TOO!" Shepherd yelled at him. "Dammit, Woolsey! This isn't a request. I'm telling you. You can court-martial me when I get back, if I come back, but I'm going to help him bring that bastard to justice."

Woolsey pursed his lips, seeing there was no way to talk him out of it. "I see," he said. And the truth was he did see. Shepherd had revealed the heart of the matter to him in his outburst. Like Link, he saw himself as having failed in his sworn duty. The way Shepherd saw it, he left Zelda behind and he couldn't live with that. Woolsey then bowed his head for a few minutes and gathered his thoughts. There was dead, uneasy silence between the two men. Then Woolsey said. "I think we can forgo the court-martial if you make it back. I'll keep this one off the books. If anyone asks, I'll tell them you're on emergency family leave. That'll be close enough to the truth at any rate. With luck, you'll be back before anyone knows you're missing."

"Thank you." Shepherd said. "I'm sorry for yelling."

"We'll discuss proper protocol in my office later." Woolsey remarked.

Shepherd walked over to his devastated friend and took him by the arm. "We will find him, Link. You and I together. I'm going with you." Link looked up at him, and John Shepherd could see eons of pain trapped behind his eyes at the loss of a relationship with a person he had known at many different times for thousands of years. There was no describing the depth of it. "We'll get him, buddy." Shepherd clasped him by the arm and raised him up.

When Link spoke his voice was gravelly, and sounded exhausted. "Who sent the message?" He asked.

"The name at the end was 'Hylia.'" Woolsey said.

At the sound of that name Link straightened up and his whole demeanor changed. "Hylia." He repeated.

"That's not possible," Shepherd said in confusion, "if Zelda's dead then who..."

"She's rejoined the goddesses. She wanted me to know what had happened." Link told the two men. "Was there anything else in the message?"

Unsure of things now, Woolsey continued, "Yes. The message said something about Nayru's piece being safe. Hylia also wanted you to return home as soon as you could. I don't understand, who is Hylia?"

"Zelda ascended." Shepherd explained. "Zelda was supposed to be the line of incarnations of the goddess Hylia. When she died, she must have ascended. By signing 'Hylia' to the transmission she was trying to tell us she was still around."

"But that's good right? That means she can retake human, or Hylian form?" Woolsey said.

"She won't though." Link answered wearily. "There's no need for her to any longer. She's going to rejoin the other gods of Hyrule. I think she was trying to tell me as much before I left."

Shepherd's anger and frustration abated a bit. It lessened the blow to know that while Zelda might have died, she wasn't lost. He was still going with Link though.

"McKay to Woolsey." The call came through the headpiece.

Woolsey stepped to the side, away from the two men and answered, "yes, go ahead, Doctor."

"We think it's done." McKay said. "You want to send our guest down to give her a spin?"

"Not a moment too soon, doctor. I'm sending him down now with Colonel Shepherd. I think he could use some good news right now." Woolsey said.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Hyrule field began to wilt, as did the Faron woods. With every hour past noon everywhere Hylia looked as she flew from Hyrule Castle to the Temple of Time she could see the black rot of the blight affecting every living plant, and even the smallest animals were now being affected. And there was nothing she could do about it. The corruption from the Sacred Realm was spilling out everywhere and into everything. Soon, there would be nothing left but a barren, lifeless rock. And then that too would be gone in time, dissolved by the blight. Hyrule was rotting from the inside out. By sundown, there would be nothing left to save.

She had sent her message to Link through the portal of time ahead of her. He would be devastated at Zelda's death, she knew, but there was little to comfort him except to let him know of her continued survival in this form. She hoped that would be enough for now.

Below her, on a stolen horse, rode the orc mage in a black hooded cloak across the plains of the field. They were heading in the same direction, she knew. There was something unnatural about the horse's gait and manner she saw deeply. The mage had used some magic to make the black horse run faster.

She resisted the temptation, again, to strike down the mage. That was a battle not meant for her, she knew. She had more pressing business in the temple before the creature arrived there as well. She sped on and far outpaced the mortal demon and his bewitched mount, leaving them behind.

The being of pure energy swept past her faithful, gray uniformed guards of the Sacred Grove, who had been oblivious to anything that had just occurred that day. Instead they were growing more and more concerned about the black rot which was spreading in the woods around them at an ever increasing rate. She had known all of them by name as they rotated in and out of the castle, watching over Impa and her mortal form by turns. They noticed only a passing warm breeze through the dying trees, and a sparkle of light they took for the sunlight dappling through the leaves.

She opened the portal into the temple and flew inside to find her faithful guardian. Assuming a more familiar, Hylian form she called out to her from the hallway, "Impa!"

"I am here, my Lady." Came Impa's response, but not from the form she was expecting as another being of pure light coalesced into the Impa she had known thousands of years ago, a much younger, strong female Sheikah warrior.

"Oh, Impa..." Hylia said. "How did this happen?"

"It would have happened sooner or later, my Lady, as it does with all things. Another Sage of Time will be awakened and come to take my place. No, we have a greater problem." The warrior said, and pointed to the blackened triangle which lay dark and cracked on the marble.

"Oh no." Hylia responded. "Then everything is truly lost, isn't it? Without Din's piece?"

"I don't know my Lady. We might be able to repair it, you and I, but not with the amount of time we now have. The blight is seeping through the time stream as well, no matter where in time we went, the clock would run out in about five hours." Impa said. "There is another way."

"Yes, I know." Hylia said sadly. "But will he understand what needs to be done in time?"

"That remains to be seen, my Lady." The Sheikah replied.

"My dear Hero..." Hylia said sadly. "I must ask one last task of you."

"I give you the _lamna clavia_. Otherwise known as the newly reforged Master Sword." Rodney McKay declared with a dramatic flourish as he gestured like a magician towards the sapphire hilted, gleeming sword which lay on the red and silver replication table in front of them.

"Is it truly the Master Sword?" Link said with hopefulness, unwilling to believe his eyes.

"Fully restored to factory specs!" McKay said. "Only thing is we haven't been able to test the A.I. or any of the sword's uh... unique capabilities. We think we were able to salvage most of Fi's memory core, but we can't check it."

"Why not?" Shepherd asked.

"We can't touch it." Bill Lee piped up disappointedly.

"You can't touch it?" Shepherd repeated.

"The specifications for the sword came up with a big warning in the fine print. It's got a security function built into the hilt like a DNA scanner, similar to the other Ancient tech we've got laying around here." McKay told him.

"So you have to have the Ancient gene. What's the big deal?" Shepherd asked. Over half the people on the base, including himself had the Ancient gene. So, for that matter, did Rodney.

"Oh no, no, no my friend. No this I.D. scanner is way more specific than that. In fact, there's only two sets of very, very specific gene markers which the sword will recognize and accept. Anyone else, it fries." McKay explained. "Anyone else that's mortal, I should add. An ascended being could use it no problem."

"What do you mean it fries?" Shepherd withdrew his hand from the near the sword quickly after it drifted of it's own accord to the shiny, sharp blade.

"It's better not to dwell." Dr. Lee said.

"You said there were two sets that it would recognize?" Shepherd asked.

"Yep, one male and one female. Anyone else, and they're toast." McKay confirmed.

"One male, the Hero," Link said, comprehending. "Only the Hero may touch it. And one female... Zelda, Hylia's incarnate form. It was Hylia who first forged the blade."

"So, you going to check it out?" McKay asked Link with anticipation.

Link reach out his hand to touch the cross guard gently. The two men had seen to it to remove the jewel which had caused the damage. He then let his fingers drift down to the handle and grasped it with his left hand, his sword hand. Under his gauntlet, he could feel the golden triangle embedded there respond energetically.

The sword glowed and seemed to come to life at his touch. "Recognition accepted," a very familiar voice which he hadn't heard for far too long reassured him. "Master Link, accepted." And the dear image of his oldest friend next to Zelda herself, a surreal looking blue and silver image of a young woman emerged into the small, Ancient laboratory.

"Master Link? What has happened? I seem to be missing part of my memory." Fi asked Link in confusion.

"There was an explosion, Fi. You were damaged, but these men restored you." Link replied happily. He wished he could hug the image tightly, but he knew it wasn't possible.

"I see. My gratitude then, dear sirs." Fi said, addressing the two scientists who watched her with rapt fascination.

"Are you fully functional Fi?" Dr. Lee asked, fulfilling a secret fantasy of his.

"Systems check..." She said, then paused for a brief moment. "Yes, I am one hundred percent operational, and I am at full power." She resumed. "What has happened since my convalescence?"

McKay and Shepherd were a little taken aback by what they knew was a computer program talking about its "convalescence." "Uh... well..." Dr. Lee tried to answer her.

"The Princess is dead." Link told her directly. "Zelda has been murdered."

"What?" Rodney said, hearing the news for the first time. "You didn't tell me that!" He accused Shepherd. "Oh, that sweet kid..."

"We just found out about it ourselves right before we came down here, Rodney." Shepherd said, keeping his tone even. Rodney truly looked upset by the news. Of course, Shepherd reminded himself, he had known her too.

"Well, what are we going to do about it?" McKay pressed. There was an anger in his eyes Shepherd rarely saw, except when one of his friends was hurt or in trouble.

"You're going to stay here. Link and I are going to return to Hyrule and hunt the bastard down after we fix the Sacred Realm." Shepherd said.

"Princess Zelda has been terminated?" Fi asked. "Then I project a one hundred percent chance that Hylia has resumed her divine form."

"Yeah, that's what we figured too." Shepherd told her.

"Resumed her divine form, what does she mean?" McKay asked in confusion, then comprehending he said, "Oh... She ascended, didn't she?"

"Yeah, we think so. Link got a transmission through the gate while we were gone signed by Hylia." Shepherd told him

"So she's not dead then? She's alive, just ascended right?" McKay stated. "Well, that's great news, it means she can retake human form whenever she wants!"

"She won't." Link said flatly. "She's not coming back as Zelda."

"Master Link, as long as the Demon King still exists..." Fi began to correct him.

Link stopped her, "He doesn't Fi. We destroyed him and stopped him from coming back permanently."

"Oh. Recalculating." She said. "Then I concur. There is a very low probability that she would choose to return to mortal form."

"Oh, wow. Bummer." Dr. Lee said. "I mean, it's great she's not actually dead, but what a bummer that there's no more Zelda."

McKay looked at him, for a minute wondering what world he was actually from, and then said, "Yeah... Listen there's one more thing we wanted to show you."

"What's that?" Link asked, removing his borrowed blade from the scabbard at his back and sliding the Master Sword back into its rightful home, Fi disappearing into thin air, waiting to be called on again.

"I took the liberty of digging a little deeper into Atlantis's database, and I came up with something I thought you'd like to see." McKay pointed to a wall mounted screen where lines of Ancient text began to cross the screen and a very familiar image of three triangles was displayed.

"The Triforce?" Link asked.

"Yes, and also in Ancient the _Trevirti, _or the 'three virtues.' It was designed and manufactured originally right here. I couldn't believe it when Bill and I found it... Well, actually Bill went digging, but anyways..." McKay said.

"You're kidding." Shepherd said.

"Not in the slightest." McKay responded. "No, this sacred relic was originally designed as a defensive weapon against ascended beings. Remember how the Ori could channel the belief of their mortal followers to give them more power? Well this thing was designed to do something similar in order to affect the fabric of reality. It focused and amplified the belief of a single mortal to alter their reality. It's designed in such a way so that only mortals such as you and I can use it, and only those mortals the designers, three Ancients named Din, Nayru, and Farore, found worthy to wield it. Each piece was meant to amplify the belief in a single virtue and thus amplify the virtue within the mortal using it. Taken together, the three pieces could shape reality on any plane in any way they needed to. What's more interesting is that it is only an amplifier. The person has to have the power, wisdom, and courage already within themselves to make it work."

Link was silent at this new information. He then asked, "It's not the Triforce itself then that gives the bearer those abilities?"

"No." McKay responded. "The bearer has to have them in the first place or it doesn't work."

Link remained silent and pensive after that.

"Okay, so are we good to go then?" Shepherd asked to all present.

"Yeah," Link replied quietly, "We're good to go.

It had taken about an hour after that for Rodney to figure out how to enter the gate coordinates Impa had given them, or even if the "Dial Home Device," as they named the coordinate entry computer, would even accept them. "Ten symbols! Man! We can't do this every day." He kept complaining to anyone in particular in the control room who would listen. "I mean, with the three zed 'p.m.'s we can do it, but it's going to cost us some and change." It amazed him at all that the city's computer even accepted the extended address. "Wow, that's complex." He would mutter on occasion, but in the end, it was all set up.

"The city's computer, remarkably, was already set up for these kinds of addresses. We had just never conceived of trying it." McKay would later explain. "And I wouldn't dare to try and calculate one myself without knowing the actual target reality. And for me, that's saying something."

"Well that only makes sense doesn't it?" Woolsey added as he listened to Rodney's report in the conference room.

"How so?" McKay asked.

"Well, Link's people came from here, didn't they?" He explained.

"Well, yeah... but... Okay, anyways, the point was that it's enormously complex, even for the Ancients." McKay tried to recover.

Shepherd, listening, had suited up with his own standard, black tactical gear, P-90, grenades, pistol, C-4, and the sword Link had borrowed previously as an afterthought. Upon remembering that they were chasing a "sorcerer," he also added an extra special package to his backpack just for him.

Link was back in his own mail and green tunic, the Master Sword strapped to his back once more. He didn't really understand all of what McKay was saying, but then he never had to begin with, and that was just fine. He might use magic, and magical objects when the need arose, but he would never consider himself a magician of any kind, nor had he any desire to. Like Shepherd, whom he understood very well, he was a soldier, a warrior, and always would be.

"So, we'll be gating back to the Temple of Time, right?" Shepherd asked Link.

"Yes. Impa was to set up a clock to let me know how much time I had left." Link responded.

"Okay, so we know you're carrying the Triforce of Courage already, Hylia said Nayru's piece was safe, right?" Shepherd asked. "And we can presume that she already knows the score, and will have brought it to the temple?"

"Right." Link responded.

"Just to be clear, what about the third piece, Power?" Shepherd asked.

"Impa has it." Link responded. "Also in the temple."

"So we just need to get you back, grab the other two pieces, open the portal to the Sacred Realm and take the completed Triforce in, right?" Shepherd wanted to be clear. "Simple enough. I like simple."

"Should be." Link agreed.

"And after that, we go orc hunting." Shepherd said.

"Absolutely." Link said, a cold steely look in his eyes.

"Anything else?" Shepherd asked the other three men at the table.

No one said anything.

"Okay, that's settled then. McKay, dial it up." Shepherd said.

The last thing Woolsey said to Colonel Shepherd and Link before they stepped through the gate was "Good hunting. To the both of you."

They both nodded, and then walked through the blue shimmering field and were gone.

Within the hour, the two gray, pointed ear, grotesque heads had been brought before Malon in her secured sitting room on a wooden plank and set before her on a table, just as Sir William had promised. Her two five year old boys, brought immediately to their mother by the guards who had shielded them with their own bodies, stood looking without emotion on the remains of the creatures that had murdered their beloved aunt and Princess in cold blood. What innocence they might have still had was being stripped away from them. The expression on her children's faces reminded her so much of her husband that she wanted to let the tears flow that threatened to overwhelm her, but she wouldn't.

The creatures looked to her surprisingly like Hylians, but Hylians twisted and disfigured in some dark nightmare of torture. She had not see the bodies, riddled with the shots fired at them by the uniformed Castle Guard. Those were to be dragged out of the castle and burned. Link had told her about this filth before, and about his adventure into their world. The world of the king and queen who now sat with her and her two sons.

"They are called 'Uruks,' your highness. 'Orcs' in our common tongue." King Eldarion told her as he stood by. He had also been offered a chair, but politely declined and his wife sat opposite the princess instead. "They are a degenerate race, an ancient, twisted offshoot of the race of elves who first populated Middle Earth."

Malon knew all of that. Link had told her of it, but she politely held her tongue in patience as she hoped her sister would do, and let him speak.

"I was led to believe that our forces, yours and mine had hunted the last of them down all the way into Mordor and slaughtered them all." Eldarion told her apologetically. "I had no idea that any still remained."

Malon digested this information, and then asked Sir William, who was also standing by, "Are these the only ones?"

"As far as we know. Our men are searching the Castle as we speak." Sir William told her.

King Eldarion added, "My own company of guards are at your disposal as well. Anything you need, you have but to ask."

Sir William looked to Malon for confirmation, and Malon nodded her assent. He then went to employ the dark blue uniformed men of Gondor to the task as well.

"Do we have any idea how they entered our world from yours, your majesty?" Malon asked. She fought to keep any tone of accusation from her voice.

"Our linking book is under heavy guard in the Citadel of Minas Tirith. The only ones who were permitted through it were vetted by my steward himself. Although we could not all come through at once, that is true." King Eldarion replied. "My retinue's servers, and porters came through first."

"The filthy creatures were wearing black, hooded cloaks of a type that seemed to shimmer and move with some kind of magic." Sir Portant added, thinking it might be relevant. "I've taken the liberty of having our own mages investigate them."

"Well done, Sir knight." Malon approved.

"Your highness, we have another situation developing as well." Sir Portant told her. "A hawk was sent from Captain Oliver at the Sacred Grove yesterday morning for your husband. He left the castle before he could receive the message. I apologize for not giving it to you before now." He then handed her the piece of paper which he had been holding for his Supreme Commander.

She took the paper and read it, then she re-read it. Without a word, she rose from her chair and went to a window to look out on the castle gardens.

"Your highness, what is it?" Sir Portant asked, concerned.

She didn't answer but looked intently at the colorful flowers, and verdant leaves of the foliage she and Zelda had often walked through together as friends. They didn't seem quite as colorful as they did. The harder she looked, the more she found. Black streaks and spots dotted the foliage and the longer she stared, she realized, the more it was growing.

Do I tell them? She wondered. Do I tell them Hyrule may not survive this day? Was this what called my husband away? She had happened upon the council chamber looking for Zelda yesterday morning, and by chance had overheard the desperate plan to reforge the Master Sword, but not the reason why.

"I believe we have taken too much advantage of his majesty, Sir Portant." She said turning around. "I think, with great respect for your majesties, King Eldarion and Queen Elrissa, that it would be best for you are your people to return to your kingdom before sundown."

"It has been no trouble, your highness. We would not dream of leaving you and yours until we are sure you are well in hand." Eldarion protested.

"Nevertheless, your majesty. As we love you and your people, so I insist you and yours return through the linking book as quickly as possible. What Hyrule must face now must be our burden to bear alone." Malon told him with as much grace as she could. "And let us all pray to the divinities we hold dear that my husband found what he was looking for."

Link and Shepherd emerged through the portal and back into the main hall of the Temple of Time. In front of them the wooden clock still stood where Impa had promised it would be, on a stool.

"No, that can't be right." Link said, looking at the clock. "It says there's only a few hours until sundown, the day of the coronation. We need to find Impa. She should have been right here."

"Okay, she's not here, let's go find her. She wouldn't have gone far." Shepherd said. "If she said she'd be waiting for you, then she will be."

The two moved down the hallway and deeper into the temple where they encountered an empty, ancient, bloodstained red robe pinned to the floor with a crudely forged sword. Around it were smashed jars, scorch marks, and burned stone.

"This doesn't look good, Link." Shepherd said. "That looks like Impa's robe, but no Impa."

"There's blood on it." Link said, kneeling down to inspect it. "And the sword is orcish."

Shepherd turned around to search the floor around the scene. It was then that his eye spotted the cracked, dark triangle. "Uh, Link." He said, calling him over. "Is that what I think it looks like?"

Link stood up and turned around, directing his attention to what Shepherd was pointing to with his rifle. He reached out and picked up the cold relic, running his finger along the crack in its surface. "No... It can't be. That's impossible." He said holding it up reverently. Under the gauntlet of his left hand, he could feel his birthmark respond to the presence of the dead Triforce, if only weakly. There was no question.

"That's what I didn't want to hear." Shepherd said. "Now what do we do?"

"You must do what you came to do." A familiar, yet younger voice addressed them.

Both Shepherd and Link spun around to find a tall, silver haired, well muscled woman. Shepherd raised his rifle as Link drew the Master Sword from his back. "And who are you?" Shepherd said.

"Someone who knows you well enough to know you are not so foolish as to try and use that on me, Colonel." The woman said.

"Impa?" Link asked her, as the familiar face emerged from his memory. "What happened to you?"

The woman pointed at the robe on the ground, "That happened, and I have shed my mortal shell."

Shepherd lowered his weapon. "Both you and Zelda."

"We have both moved on. Our time in this world is done yes. But now, Hero, you must do what you came to do. You must restore the Master Sword to its proper place and enter the Sacred Realm."

"How? The Triforce is broken and dark. It won't work!" Link protested.

"Power, Wisdom, and Courage. You must find within yourself the one thing that binds them all and bring them into the Sacred Realm. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, Hero, it remains alone. But if it dies, it gives new birth to countless others." Impa said. "Do you understand, Hero of Hyrule?"

"There's subtle, and then there's just encrypted! What is she talking about Link?" Shepherd asked in confusion.

Link did understand. "Unless the three virtues are already within me, the sacred relics can do nothing." He said. He understood it now in a way that he never had before.

Impa nodded. "Go, Hero. Fulfill your destiny."

"Link, what's going on? What is she talking about?" Shepherd demanded.

But Link remained silent, and became resolute in his purpose, chanting quietly under his breath, "Power, wisdom, and courage..." Again and again trying to summon all of them within himself for the final task he knew he was always meant to do. He took off back to the entry hall of the temple, and Shepherd ran after him.

"Link wait, stop!" He shouted, but Link wouldn't.

The younger man only stopped in front of steps to the pedestal that had once housed the sword which now lay on his back, summoning all the courage he had been blessed with. He drew the sword from his back. As he did so, the triangular birthmark on the back of his left hand glowed, faded, and then disappeared altogether. In front of him appeared a radiant golden triangle, shining like the sun.

"Link...?!" Shepherd caught up to him. "What just happened? Why did it just do that?"

"Because I don't need it anymore, Colonel." Link responded, as the faces of all the people he had loved, the land he had fought for, and especially his beloved wife and sons flowed through his mind and heart giving him an internal power he had never encountered before and couldn't describe.

"What do you mean? Dammit, Link, talk to me!" Shepherd began to get angry with panic. He didn't need his friend going off the deep end now.

"I know what I have to do. I have one last thing to give for my world, my Princess, and my family." Link said as he ascended the steps to the pedestal, which began to glow with ancient writing upon the approach of the Sword.

"Link you can't go in there without the Triforce! It will rip you apart!" Shepherd shouted at him, arguing.

"Power, wisdom, courage," Link said firmly, solemnly, and peacefully, "and the virtue which unites and empowers all of them, love." He then turned one more time to the man who had been a kind of mentor, and great friend, "John, tell my wife and boys I love them very much." And then he thrust the Master Sword, the Hylian key blade into the pedestal where it slid down and stopped.

"Portal access granted." Fi's voice rang out. "Sacred Realm opened."

And as Shepherd watched, a sudden vortex of blue energy surrounded his young, green clad friend, the kid brother he never had, and then he was gone. And all was silent in the timeless glowing chamber.

Link found himself inside writhing darkness. It felt alive, and he sensed the echo of an old and familiar presence in it. It was a presence that hated him with a venom and a fury that seemed endless. And it knew that the object of its hate was now within its grasp as it began to pummel him, and eat away at him painfully like acid to his skin.

Link forced himself, as he hung suspended in the inky black void, to focus only on his love for his wife and sons. He used that love to fuel his faith as he began to wish. He wished with all of his being for a new world, a new Hyrule, free of the corruption, hatred, and darkness of the Demon King's curse; free of the rot which blackened and defiled the Sacred Realm. It became the core of his one thought which he refused to let go of; a new creation founded on his love.

Around him the corruption ate away greedily at his clothing, digging into him with pure malice, and then through his chain mail underneath, until it began to dissolve the skin underneath sending waves of pain. His skin, blood and bone began to rot away into the unholy blackness.

He stubbornly held on to his loving wish, letting go of his need for survival, letting go of his mortal remains as they burned away from him, letting go of his past lives and adventures as the Hero, and then in his love for them he said goodbye to his family and gave everything up for his one radiant, burning goal: a new world.

The last of Link's mortal flesh dissolved and in it's place remained a being of pure light and that light exploded and expanded, consuming the darkness around him, reaching into every corner, and every dark place of the Sacred Realm, cleansing it, restoring it, reviving it, and filling it with a beauty it had no known for eons of normal time. It was a beauty born of sacrificial love.

On the mortal plane, as Captain Oliver and his men had watched in despair as the grove around them withered and died, so they now watched in wonder at its rebirth. The black smears which had been foliage disappeared altogether and new growth rapidly shot forth from the ground. The withered, blackened trees surged with new life as verdant, lively green leaves exploded from their branches. New mushrooms popped out the ground where just the morning before Impa had bemoaned their loss. All around them it seemed if the grove and the surrounding forest awakened like it had never done before and sang its praises to the divine beings that had created it.

"Your highness, you need to see this." One of Malon's guards called her back to her window. The contingent from Middle Earth had not yet left, and their majesties were still in the sitting room. Malon rushed over to the window to see the withering and blackening castle gardens jump to life again as the flowers grew and exploded into a dazzling array of colors.

"Oh, my..." She said.

"Your highness, what's happening?" King Eldarion asked.

"Link... was successful." She said haltingly, trying to control the surge of emotions within her.

"Should we still go then?" His majesty asked.

"No, I don't think there's any need any longer," she said, struggling to remain in control. "I think we're all perfectly safe now."

The new creation of Hyrule that began in her Sacred Realm spread like an all consuming, fast moving wildfire that purged and cleansed the land, and reached out to all the worlds connected to it, and the corruption of the Demon King's darkness was no more.

Link's light remained in the Sacred Realm spreading and diffusing through all it touched with the power, wisdom, and courage his love brought to it.

Then in the peaceful silence of that realm, a familiar loving voice spoke out to him, "Well done, my son. I am so proud of you, my dear sweet boy." The sweet song of Saria's voice, Farore's voice, filled Link's being with music.

"Is Hyrule safe?" Link asked.

"Yes, my son. Now, and forever." His mother's voice sang joyously. "Because of your sacrificial love and faith, Hyrule now has a future and a hope that can't ever be taken away from her."

Then another familiar voice sang out, "Yes, Hero. Your labors are finally done. We can both rest now."

"Hylia?" Link asked. "We can rest?"

"Yes." She said again. "Our work is done."

"What about Hyrule? Who will watch over them?" Link asked.

"We will always watch over our world, as we have since the beginning. But your story is finished. Now, it's time for others to begin their stories." Farore told him.

"I have one more thing I must do before I can rest." Link said, resolutely.

"Go to her my son, but we cannot permit you to remain. Your time, the time of the legend of Zelda, is finished." She said.

"I understand." Link said sadly. "But I must tell her myself."

Shepherd stood for what seemed like an eternity staring at the pedestal, unaware of anything else around him. "Dammit Link, why do you always have to just rush headlong into trouble!" He swore more than once.

"His work is done." The woman's voice spoke behind him. "But your work yet remains, Colonel."

Shepherd turned around to see the young, warrior woman standing behind him. She was glowing with an inner light that he had only seen a few times before with people whom he had been very close to. People who had since passed to another plane of existence.

"Impa. What's happened to him?" Shepherd asked.

"He has fulfilled his calling as he was always meant to and given Hyrule new life. His time in this plane of existence is done. But yours still continues, Colonel, and there are those who have need of your help." Impa told him solemnly.

Shepherd looked back to the sword in the pedestal and watched as the symbols on the pedestal which had remained lit for some time, finally faded until they could no longer be seen. "He's not coming back." Shepherd finally admitted to himself.

"And you still have work to do, do you not, Colonel?" Impa challenged him.

"Yes, I do." Shepherd responded.

"I believe you will find the one you seek just beyond the entry where the guards have been trying to stop him. If you hurry, you may save their lives." She said.

"Can I expect any help?" He questioned her as he moved towards the entry portal.

"I can no longer interfere." She said.

"Where have I heard that before?" Shepherd snorted, and then plunged through the doorway into the outside world, as time seemed to speed up around him and resume its normal flow.

Outside the doorway, the air was fresh and clean, and the colors around him so vibrant and stunning it was almost disorienting. "Whoa." He exclaimed. "That's some makeover." As his senses were filled with the fragrant yet delicate scents of the flowers, and forest, and sights and sounds of the colors and music of Hyrule's natural world.

And then, nearby, he heard gunshots ring out and men yelled and screamed in pain, and he broke into a dead run towards them.

"Hey ugly!" Shepherd called out, firing off a round that took the big orc by surprise in the shoulder. He had emerged into the clearing of the grove where two years before he remembered seeing the broken body of the skull kid, the previous guardian of the grove, lying motionless. Around the clearing lay the stunned and twisted, but living bodies of the guardsmen who had attempted to stop the creature. Near them lay their Hylian rifles, tossed about the clearing like twigs fallen from a tree. The orc had one of the guardsmen up in the air, and Shepherd had fired to get the monstrosity to drop him.

Without turning, or looking at him, the orc reached out with his left hand and Shepherd's P-90 flew out of his own hands and far away across the clearing. Okay, Shepherd thought, I've played this game before too. Thinking quickly he pulled his backpack to the ground while the orc remained distracted, opened it, and flipped a switch on the special package inside.

The effect was instantaneous, as the gray uniformed guardsman fell to the ground, and the orc yelled, "What sorcery is this?!"

"What's wrong big and ugly?!" Shepherd called out, "someone shut off the power?"

The orc turned his full attention to Shepherd then and drew a huge sword from under the back of his black cloak. "You will pay for that, puny human!" The orc yelled as he stalked towards Shepherd.

Shepherd drew his own sword from its makeshift scabbard on his back and, with an eagerness he seldom experienced in combat, ran to meet him. He knew this would have to be quick, the anti-prior device wouldn't last forever.

The orc swung hard at him, but Shepherd met the blow and danced around him. "What's wrong, you can kill old women and little girls, but you can't stand up in a real fight without your powers?" He taunted him.

"Do you know, puny human, how many old women and little girls of my people your race has slaughtered in my world? I am one of the only ones of the Uruk race left." The orc raged at him.

"I've had a really bad day, and somehow you're part of the cause of it, so I don't really care at the moment!" Shepherd yelled back then made to strike the orc from behind, but the creature moved quickly and parried the strike.

"Your people are guilty of genocide! And you judge me for seeking justice, filthy man spawn!" The orc yelled as his blade sliced through the air, narrowly missing Shepherd's head by inches.

Shepherd jumped back as far as he could, quickly drew the pistol from it's holster on his waist, found the creature's unarmored head, and took the shot. "I've got your justice right here." He said as he fired.

The bullet found its mark between the creature's mishappen black eyes. A second and third struck the creature in the chest, and then Shepherd just kept firing until the clip was empty. An old habit he had developed from dealing with unfriendly wraith. The orc mage dropped to his knees and fell over to the side lifeless and unmoving.

Then, in a fit of barbarism uncharacteristic of him but which just felt right that one time, he took his sword and severed the orc's head from his lifeless body. "Court's adjourned." He said decisively.

"Colonel Shepherd?" One of the men on the ground sat up, and called out weakly.

"Yeah!" He returned, adrenaline still coursing through his veins. After one last look at his handiwork, he ran to the side of the man who called out to him.

"I know you." Shepherd said as he tended to him. "Lieutenant Oliver, right? Fourth infantry division?"

"Actually," the mustachioed man said, trying to regain his voice, "It's Captain of the Sacred Grove Guard now, sir."

"You must have really impressed Link, Captain." Shepherd told him. "Congratulations."

"My men..." Oliver said, looking around, taking in the scene around him.

They were all moaning, that Shepherd could hear, and that was a good sign. A few twisted limbs, and some cuts, but he knew from experience they would pull through. "Alive, Captain. They're all alive."

"What is happening? Who was that? What was that?" Oliver asked, his voice getting stronger.

Shepherd just looked at him, not sure of where to begin, or even how.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Shepherd had stayed with the injured men until the sun went down making sure that they were stable, and then went up the long ascent to the Faron woods to get more help. Several of the more mature men recognized him from their early days of training and instantly responded to his requests, sending reinforcements with Hylian medicines down into the grove immediately. No one yet understood how the creature had gotten past the guards stationed at the entry way to the passages below. They then put him on the next train out bound for Hyrule Castle, and he was silent the whole way there, watching as the landscape of Hyrule field flew by.

Opposite him in the mostly empty passenger car sat a young, blond haired uniformed guardsman who, try as he might couldn't help but sneak glances at Shepherd. He had volunteered to escort the Colonel to the castle personally.

"You might as well ask, corporal," Shepherd said, noting the rank insignia on the gray uniform. "What's on your mind?" Shepherd didn't really feel like conversation, but the glances of near veneration were beginning to bug him.

"I'm sorry, sir." The young corporal said. He couldn't have been more than nineteen years old. "It's just that, when I was a boy, my father was one of the men under your command. He always spoke very highly of you. Some of the stories he told of the things you did... Well, you were a hero of mine, sir." The soldier said.

Shepherd nodded. On other days, he might have good-naturedly welcomed a little hero worship. But too much had happened that he was still trying to wrap his mind around. He didn't want to be anyone's hero today. "What's your name, son?" He asked him.

"Corporal Aidan of the Faron Woods Guard Regiment, sir." The corporal said.

Shepherd thought hard on the man's features for a minute. Then a flash of recognition came to him."You're Sir Garrett's son, aren't you?" He asked, certain he was right.

"Yes, sir!" The man said excitedly, then catching himself tried to regain his composure. "Yes, sir." He said with more reserve.

Shepherd smiled. "Sir Garret was a good man. I'm glad to know it still runs in his family." He said, trying to say something to make the man feel better about his glances, and to allow the conversation to end gracefully. He was right, Sir Garrett had been a good man. Better than himself at times, Shepherd thought.

Seemingly happy and satisfied, the soldier let the matter rest, and Shepherd was thankful.

"Your highness?" One of the guards to the council chambers interrupted the session. Malon, her guards, sons, and the royal advisers had all been brought to the much larger and more accommodating council room, where she sat at the head of the table in the royal seat, the prime minister seated at her left hand, while the seat at her right remained vacant, much to her personal anguish.

Why hasn't my Link returned yet? If he was successful, where is he? She wondered silently. The advisers all had been debating with each other about the world changing things that had happened that day. Some were arguing, some were accusing one another, some were just trying to keep from having the fire directed that themselves. It did not help that two more orc "terrorist", as she could think of no other word to describe them, had been found and quickly dispatched by Eldarion's Citadel Guards near the bomb storage of the castle armory. But none else since then.

Malon looked at the arguing ministers like they were spoiled children trying to keep themselves from being blamed for something none of them had any control over. "Enough!" Her voice rang out with authority, and the whole table went silent. "That is enough! There is no one here who could have foreseen this except one person, and she is now gone." Somehow, Malon believed that Zelda had foreseen it, all of it. The thought didn't make her any happier. Why didn't you tell me, my sister? She asked inwardly.

"Yes, your highness." The prime minister spoke, and the others nodded.

"None of you are to blame, and neither is King Eldarion and his people." She exclaimed. "If our history has taught us anything, it's that evil can and will arise when we least expect it, and no one can prepare themselves sufficiently to keep it from happening. We can only respond and fight against it as best we can. What's done is done, and now we who are living must pick up the pieces and carry on. The people out there," she pointed off into the walls of the castle, "look to us to guide them, and give them the safety and security they need to live their own lives as free from that evil as they can. That is our responsibility gentlemen." She said, and then her voice became as hard as steel. "If you cannot handle that responsibility, I will find men to advise me who can."

"We understand, your highness." The minister of foreign affairs said meekly, fear behind his eyes and quavering voice. The others also nodded their assent.

But she wasn't done. "Wisdom, Power, and Courage. These are the gifts of the goddesses, and we must use them to lead Hyrule into the new age my sister and my husband bought for us so many years ago with the help of the heroes from the other reality. If you can not be found worthy of these sacred virtues, then you are excused from my council. The Kingdom of Hyrule has no more need of your services. But if you can summon them as the goddesses intended, then join me in fulfilling this duty we have, and let the past remain where it is."

The ministers then looked at her with new eyes. This wasn't the milk maid peasant girl they had taken her to be. They sat up a little straighter, a little stronger for the chastening. The prime minister responded with all the sincerity and respect he could muster for this new woman, this new princess before him. "Yes, your highness."And once again, he spoke for all of them.

Just then a guardsman entered the room. "I'm sorry, your highness but I have a visitor with urgent news. He has asked to speak to you alone." He said apologetically.

"And what visitor is this that can so demand a private audience with her highness in her own council chambers?" The prime minister called out to the guard skeptically. The other men in the room agreeing vociferously and throwing angry stares at the upstart young soldier, who would doubtlessly be on latrine duty from hence on.

Just then a figure in a foreign, black clad uniform with dark hair and clean shaven face strode into the room. Each person in the room, except for the young boys who had only heard stories about him, recognized him from so many years prior, even her highness who had entertained and traded with him as a teenage girl.

Upon seeing him, and the grave, solemn look on his face Malon's stomach tightened, and her heart pounded. "Leave us." She demanded. "Everyone." And without question, they all filed out of the room leaving her with the weary and saddened Colonel. Sir William took the two boys with him as they stared in awe walking past Shepherd's tired form.

In the awkward silence that followed, Malon chose to speak first. "Come Colonel, sit at my right hand in my husband's seat." She invited.

He didn't move, but hesitated. "They tell me you're the princess now." He said. "I can't argue with their choice. You were always good at running things." He told her, not sure of what to say.

"My sister was assassinated this morning. Before she died, she adopted me as her royal heir." Malon explained, trying to maintain a friendly tone, but he was stalling. "You had a message for me?" She asked, her heart pounding at what it might be.

"Look, Malon... I'm no good at this." He said. He had written more "I regret to inform you..." letters than he could remember, and those were hard enough. He had never wanted to deliver the news personally to the loved one, especially loved ones who were close to his own heart too. "Link..." His face then became even graver, and Malon knew what he was going to say next. And then the tears began to flow uncontrollably, as she choked up into great sobs, unable to contain the emotions that had been churning inside of her all that day. She buried her face in her hands, her elbows on the table as she covered it with her tears.

Shepherd quietly approached her, and put his hand on her shoulder, trying in some way to comfort her. "Link saved Hyrule. He saved all of you, Malon." He told her.

"But he's not coming back is he?" She choked out between sobs.

"No. No, I don't think he is. It's complicated." He said, unable to really explain it himself.

She looked up at him with red eyes. Her makeup had been smeared. "How did he go?" She asked him.

He then tried to relate what he knew the best he could. As he told her, it seemed the hard princess and tough businesswoman he knew melted away and she seemed frightened and vulnerable, like a little girl caught out in a storm with nowhere to run.

"I'm sorry, Malon. I tried to stop him." Shepherd said. "He wanted me to tell you and your boys how much he loved you."

She smiled, and a small laugh escaped her lips. "You couldn't have stopped him. No one could have. He was, after all, the Hero of Hyrule." She said, wiping her eyes.

"Yeah, he certainly was." Shepherd agreed with her.

Then she seemed even more vulnerable, and tears started flowing again, and she said meekly, and scared, "John?" She asked. "Would you hold me for a while?"

"Yeah." he responded as he opened his arms and allowed her to enter his embrace as he held her. "Yeah, I will." he said. The truth was, he needed to be held just then too.

Later that night, after she had sat with her boys until they fell asleep in their own room, Malon undressed in her silent bedchamber and slipped into her nightgown. Her eyes caught the empty gilded hooks on the wall catching the dim glow of the electric light which had been installed. There had hung the broken sapphire hilt she had grown so accustomed to, but she had few tears left to shed to mourn its loss as well. Exhausted, she just wanted to collapse into her bed, perhaps hoping to wake up the next morning from the nightmare her life had become. As she looked at it though, it was yet another reminder of all that had happened. Now, it was just her bed. These had been the Hero's chambers, and soon, not tomorrow, but soon, she would move her things into the royal residence where her sister had slept, and she would seal this room once more. Perhaps, forever.

The hooks flickered again, this time more brightly, and she thought she was imagining things. Out from the wall came a single little light, like a tiny blue star, that hovered in the air in front of her. She watched as it began to grow and take shape as a Hylian form; a very familiar Hylian form that she launched herself at with all the passion and strength she had and held on tightly for fear of losing him again.

"Link!" She cried out. "My Link! You came back to me!"

"Oh Malon." He said sadly. "I can only stay for a brief moment."

"What do you mean? You're here, and I don't want to lose you again. I thought you were dead. Colonel Shepherd said you had died." She went on. "You can't leave us again. You can't."

"I don't have a choice, Malon." He said gently, holding her in his embrace. "I can't stay. My time, the time of the Hero, is done now. The Others won't allow me to continue with you in this new age. I asked for this one chance to be able to say goodbye."

"But I'm so scared." She said. "I don't know if I can do this without you. What if I'm not strong enough?"

"You are. I know you have it within you to be a great leader for these people." He reassured her, stroking her hair with his hand.

"Will I see you again?" She asked.

"Hylia and I will always be watching over you, and Hyrule." He answered her. "But this next part of your journey, you will have to walk without me beside you. No one else can do this for you. This is your destiny, Malon, and yours alone."

She slowly let go of him, looked into the eyes of her husband, her Hero, one last time holding his hands, and said, "I understand. I love you, my husband."

"And I you, my wife. Goodbye." And then the form he had taken began to glow with a soft but radiant light as the man she had known as friend, husband, and Hero became pure light and energy and ascended up and out of her life.

"Goodbye." She said softly, and then she was alone.

A month later, after a period of mourning for the Princess Zelda, the Hero of Hyrule, and the Sages of Light and Time, Malon was crowned Queen of Hyrule by the Sage of Time, a tall, stately handsome elder woman with silver hair. Some murmur rang out through the crowd as she crowned her "Malon, daughter of Gaepora, Queen of Hyrule," but they died down, and no one mentioned it again.

The contingent from Middle Earth remained for that month to pay their own respects and to give what assistance they could in the transition. No more orcs were found in the castle. And so they were present in their full livery, and their Citadel Guard were given a place of honor among the new queen's ceremonial guard presence.

Colonel Shepherd, for his short time there, stood in the place of Supreme Commander of Hyrule's Forces for the ceremony at the Queen's right hand, at the appropriate time, he along with the others took the ceremonial oath of fealty to the new majesty. It would have been disrespectful, he justified to himself, to not do so.

After she was crowned, she addressed the huge crowd that filled the great hall of the palace, her voice calling out clear and strong. "Today, Hyrule stands on the edge of the unknown. We stand on the precipice of a future we had not dared to dream of; a future that was paid for with our dearest, and most precious blood. It is a new world without a Demon King to threaten us, torture us, and spoil our land, this is true. But it is also a world without our Princess of Wisdom and Hero of Courage to guide us through the darkness." Malon's tears flowed freely as the pain of their loss, her sister and her husband both, came fresh. "So we must continue on to find our path without them. We must work together to discover the power, the wisdom, and the courage within ourselves, trusting in our beloved goddesses to show us and teach us that if we believe in their gifts and the balance and love that unify them, that just as our ancestral goddesses forged this land once upon a time, so we can reforge it anew following the pathways laid down by our ancient ancestors. I call on every Hylian, every Goron, every Zora, and all of Hyrule's people to join me in this new world, this new age, and together we will ensure a future and a hope for our people."

The tears ran like streams down her cheeks and touched the hearts of all those listening. A great cheer rose up from the crowd, "long live Queen Malon! Long live Queen Malon!"

There was one person in the crowd who also was smiling, but sadly as he silently chose to disappear hoping his daughter wouldn't notice. But she did.

"Papa, I was going to tell you." Malon said to the gray haired older man who had been the only father she had ever known. She spoke with him in the sitting room off to the side once she had been allowed to get away that day.

"Tell me what, lass? That I wasn't really your father?" The older, portly man with the thick gray and black handlebar mustache sat in the plush chair opposite her. She had been terrified at the hurt the revelation would cause him, and had never intended for him to find out the way he did earlier that day. But she had put it off for so long, telling herself that she needed to focus on the problems of state, that the day arrived, and her time to break it to him gently ran out.

She had feared a look of pain, or of betrayal in his eyes. Instead, all she found in his eyes were love and understanding. "Tsk, I already knew that, love. Or suspected it anyhow." He leaned over and took his daughter's hands in his own rough, calloused ones and said. "I wasn't as much of a simpleton as old Gaepora took me for. I wasn't such a fool, love, that I couldn't count when your mother gave birth at eight months instead of nine. It wasn't hard to put together. She was a wonderful woman for the short time I had with her, and never gave me reason to complain." He then let go of her hands and leaned back, drew out a pipe, filled it with some loose tobacco he had in a small pouch, and lit it. After taking a long drag, he exhaled the smoke and the fragrant scent of the tobacco filled the room. It was a scent Malon remembered from her childhood. It filled her with good memories of her father.

He continued, "Who was I to complain? Me, a farmer deep in the shit being given a flower like that to care for? The King himself introduced me to the most beautiful woman I never had the right to love. And I did. I loved Maola. And then the goddesses blessed me with you. My love, I knew when the time was right you'd find your way back to where you belonged, not wallowing in the horse shit with me and the hands. I always knew you was born to better than that. You had a bigger future than I could ever give you, and I knew it. I'm glad you've found your true home, and Hyrule's the better for it, I think."

"Oh Papa..." Malon said, allowing the tears to well up in her eyes once more.

"Now, now, none of that, love. You're a queen now." The old man gently chastised her. "We're all counting on you. I don't think the road ahead's going to be so easy. You've got to be strong for all of us, my love."

"I know papa." She said softly.

"Now," he began to change the uncomfortable subject, "I've got some good strong colts out at the ranch that Gillon, the new hand, is breaking for the boys. You've got to bring them out to try them."

"I will, papa, as soon as we can." She said, and the old man sat back satisfied, puffing on his pipe. She then brought up one more thing. "I have one more thing to ask of you."

"Oh, what's that dearest?" he asked.

"Epona." She said. "She's been heartbroken since Link... hasn't come back. And she's never let anyone else ride her. She won't let anyone else ride her." She explained.

"Except for you, love." Talon threw in.

"Except for me," she conceded, "but I have White Lady, and I couldn't do that to her. Would you...?"

"Take Epona home?" Talon rubbed his chin, "of course, love. I'll see to it she gets the best oats we've got. Don't you worry about her. We'll take good care of her. The goddesses know she'd taken good care of her master. It's the least I can do for the Hero's mount."

"Thank you, papa."

After the coronation, there was only the one task left of choosing Link's true successor as Supreme Commander. Shepherd only really agreed to fill in for the ceremony because he had already held that position once, and it would have been awkward for Malon without someone there in that role. Sir William and Sir Portant, as good of men as they were were getting too old for the role. The Supreme Commander of Hyrule had to be young enough to personally lead the armies of Hyrule into battle from the front, not stay behind in the rear and strategize. Link had always been good at that. Malon, and the two generals gave considerable weight to his opinion on the subject. Shepherd kept thinking back to the young Captain in the Sacred Grove. There was something about the man that had impressed him, even from the years before when he had been a younger lieutenant. After discussing it with her majesty and the two generals, it was agreed that the honor would be given to the man whose courage none of them could question, Captain Oliver.

After that, Shepherd realized there was nothing more for him to do as he pensively walked through the courtyard of the palace. Hyrule and the people who had become an extended family for him were in good and capable hands. It was then that Impa appeared to him once more.

"It is time for you to return home to your own people, Colonel." The warrior woman advised him. "Your time here now is done as well. Your people in your own reality have need of you. You have other oaths to fulfill." She said.

"Yeah, I know. I've been thinking the same thing." He agreed with her. "I don't suppose you could give me a lift, could you?" He asked, unsure of how else he was going to find his way back to the right time and place.

Impa made a grand gesture with a sweep of her radiant, glowing arm taking in the entire scene around them. As she did so, the entire space around them changed to the interior of the entry hall of the Temple of Time. Shepherd's clothes had changed from the Hylian courtly dress back to his black tactical clothes, flack jacket, and weaponry. The black backpack he had come to that world with was attached firmly to his back. "Wow, thanks. Neat trick." He said in amazement.

The woman smiled, and then gestured again and the portal of time rose from the floor once more and began spinning. The symbols on it lighting up as the familiar vortex whooshed out and back in again, leaving a vertical pool of shimmering energy across the diameter of the ring.

"Well, that's it then." Shepherd said, about to walk into the ring.

"Not quite yet, Colonel." Another familiar female voice called out, as a young woman with long blond hair and sharp pointed ears materialized in front of him shining with an inner light. "We would like for you to carry these with you back to our first home." In her hands she carried three triangles. Two were of shining gold, and one was obsidian black and cracked. "They will be safer there now than here, and perhaps Dr. McKay will one day be able to restore Din's piece in time."

Shepherd stared, stunned at the relics in her hands. He then remembered from all those years ago, and said, "Wait a second, I thought the Triforce couldn't leave Hyrule or it would fall into darkness or something." Shepherd said, confused.

"The Triforce kept the Demon King's corruption from overtaking Hyrule for thousands of years; keeping it bound to the Sacred Realm. But as you have witnessed, it could not hold back the corruption forever. Now, Hyrule has been reborn, and the stain of Demise's filth is gone. It is best for this land and this people now for the damaged Triforce to leave this land for a time." Hylia explained solemnly. "You will know when the time is right for its return."

Shepherd stared at the triangles in her hands. "I don't know. That's a lot of power to hand to me, and I don't know if I'm ready for that yet." He said, uneasy at the prospect of even touching the broken device.

"You have demonstrated great wisdom, power, and courage in your trials, Colonel, and have been willing to sacrifice your own future to ensure the future of this world." Hylia said. "My sisters and I find you worthy, Hero, to be its guardian."

Shepherd considered that, and understood the honor that went with it. He nodded, and, unslinging the backpack, he opened it and carefully took each piece from her hands placing them carefully in the bag. As he touched each piece, they seemed to glow brightly for a brief instant. A tingle of pain ran through the back of his left hand and a familiar triangular symbol formed, with two golden triangles forming the base, and a black one crowning them.

He looked at his hand and said, "That's going to take some explaining when I get back."

Hylia smiled. "And now it is time, Hero of Hyrule. The legend of Zelda is finished." And she vanished in a burst of light.

Shepherd closed the bag, and slung it over his shoulders again. He took one last look around, and then stepped through the gate.

In the next instant he was stepping into the spacious gate room of Atlantis's main tower. In front of him, Mr. Woolsey was standing, staring at the stargate right where he had been before Shepherd had left with Link.

"Colonel, is there something wrong?" Mr. Woolsey asked in confusion.

"How long have I been gone?" Shepherd asked.

"You and Link just left, Colonel. It hasn't been more than a few seconds." He explained, trying to wrap his own head around it. "What happened?"

Shepherd paused for a moment, trying to find the words, he then said, "It's going to be a long briefing." He then asked, "your office?"

Woolsey nodded then noticed the fresh tattoo on Shepherd's hand. "Indeed it is." He said as he followed Shepherd up the stairs.

Later that night, Shepherd couldn't sleep. His body was still on Hyrule time and it would take a couple of days for him to readjust. He lay awake thinking about all the people back in the other world that he was now inexplicably and inextricably tied to. He didn't know if he would ever see them again, but he didn't want to forget them either.

He got up out of bed and went to his dresser drawer and opened it. Inside, under his personal off-duty wardrobe lay the thin case of an unwrapped, unopened Nintendo video game. He took it out of the drawer and took it over to his flat screen television where a video game console had been hooked up. He pressed the button on the face of the console to pull out the _Call of Duty_ game which he had last played with Ronan over a month ago. No, he corrected himself, it had only been a week ago, before Ronan and Teyla went on leave together.

He then unwrapped the _Legend of Zelda_ game and put it into the machine, and started a new game. "Okay, old buddy," he said to the image of Link which came up in the video prologue, "let's go save Hyrule again."


End file.
